LIBERATING LANGUAGE?

Eventually I will organize my wallpaper to include a section for book reviews. Today, I'll just use the usual space.

You might think a book about a group of women getting together to knit would be a boring little granny's novel. Since I'm a granny who likes to knit and crochet I took a chance on reading The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs. I enjoyed the weaving of relationships between shop owner Georgia and the eclectic group of women who frequent her knitting shop, the men in their lives, and between Georgia and her daughter. One of the most interesting (and annoying) characters in the story is Darwin, a graduate student in anthropology who chooses the "knitting club" for the topic of her doctoral dissertation. She challenges the value of modern women spending their time knitting. In choosing this novel I confess that I was also trying to steer away from novels that have sex, violence and language. My last big disappointment in this regard was picking up David Baldacci's Absolute Power, getting hooked within the first twenty pages, and having to put it down because of the effusive use of...THAT word. I had previously enjoyed two of his books, The Christmas Train and Wish You Well and thought I had found a great new author.

To my surprise, Jacobs story was also laced with profanity. Yes, a little ol' granny novel with even the...yes THAT word. Does the use of profanity empower women? I don't think so! There are so many other words to be used. If anyone would like to explain how debasing oneself to the language used by perverse adolescent males can be empowering, go for it.