FICTION

The Commune

by Erica Abeel
Adelaide. Jul. 2021. 328p. ISBN 9781954351790. pap. $22.30. F
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The Women’s Strike for Equality in August 1970 was a seminal moment in the second wave of white American feminism. Abeel’s novel is a fictionalized version of this real-life event and opens several months before the strike, with the Betty Friedan stand-in Gilda Gladstone planning the demonstration from her commune in upstate New York. Other characters at the commune also have parallels to real-life feminists and hot shots of the New York literary world. The book’s narrative perspective switches among single mom (and aspiring author) Leora, sociologist Nadine, bisexual WASP society girl Edwina, and other eccentric members of the commune, showing readers the tension between the radical ideas the characters preach and their own desires for love, success, or the so-called American Dream.
VERDICT While white heteronormative second-wave feminism of the 1970s is ripe for critique, Abeel’s (Wild Girls) satire falls short; any valid insights are lost in the repetitive writing and characters who fail to engage readers’ interest. Nonetheless, those who lived through this era might enjoy the gossipy feel of this tell-all novel. For larger fiction collections.
Reviewed by Lynnanne Pearson, Skokie P.L., IL , Jun 25, 2021
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