Pope Joan: A Novel by Donna Woolfolk Cross

September Book Club - Book Review

By: Sharon Anderson

Our September book club selection was Pope Joan: A Novel, by Donna Woolfolk Cross. This is another work of historical fiction at it’s best. When I checked this book out of my local library I was struck by how well worn and dog-eared the pages were! It looked like half of my town had read this book. As I started reading, I had trouble putting it down.

Cross has woven a story of Joan’s life from birth to death. She has taken a legend that has some evidence of truth and written a “what if it were true” novel that is well written and well researched. Her description of 9^th century society, in particular, women and children’s roles as property was educational.

Joan’s journey from poverty and cruelty as a young girl, to education and advancement as a young man, to the power and extravagance of the palace of the pope gives us a view of a little known period of time and of a little known legend of this period in time.

The legend is that a woman became pope in A.D. 854 and served as Pope John Anglicus for two and a half years.  She served as pope until her labor pains betrayed the fact that she was a woman. The romantic interest was a little too predictable but it made a good story, and she had to get pregnant at some point in the story.

Whether or not it was true, the historical research of this period was excellent. One of the reasons there is so little information about Pope Joan is that the Catholic Church purposely purged all records of the female pope in the 15^th century. It was the time of the protestant reformation when the church was under attack, and the mention of a female pope was deemed the work of the heretics.

Pope Joan was a great read and very worthwhile and informative.

In October we are reading Alma Mater by Rita Mae Brown.  

Sex Wars, by Marge Piercy

August Book Club - Book Review

By: Sharon Anderson

The Minnesota Valley NOW Book Club meets monthly.  In August we read Sex Wars by Marge Piercy. This work of historical fiction chronicles the post civil war era, with an emphasis on the women’s rights movement. The narrative gives the reader a vivid picture of late 19^th century life in New York City. It is an interesting story albeit not necessarily true. It was hard to tell the difference between fact and fiction. The main characters were Susan Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Woodhull Sisters and their nemesis Anthony Comstock. While these are real historical personages and many of the events chronicled in the book are documented, the narrative of day-to-day life and conversations are fictional.  Piercy also created a fictional immigrant woman Freydeh who could have existed at that time.

The book was written in a style that portrayed the character’s lives separately by chapter.  It was only later in the book that some of the characters and their actions had an impact on each other’s lives. Piercy used the same technique in The Longings of Women, to much better effect.  There were fewer characters to follow and it was apparent earlier in the novel how they were connected.  I found this technique was harder to follow in Sex Wars. I also found myself following one character’s story - in essence reading ahead and skipping chapters rather than reading it in the order Piercy intended.  If I had not been reading it for book club I would not have made it through this book.

That being said, Piercy did manage to weave a story that could be a starting point for further examination of Women’s Suffrage and immigrant life in America.  She did bring a personality to these characters and told an engaging story of how things might have been.

In September we are reading Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross.  In some circles there has been a belief that a female pope existed in the 9^th century. The legend is that Pope John VIII was in fact an Englishwoman.  She reportedly was Pope for two and half years starting in A.D. 854.  It is thought that she was Pope until her labor pains betrayed the fact that she was a woman.  She was later stricken from papal records.  Pope Joan, by Donna Woolfolk Cross, a fictional tale of how this could have happened.