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The Living is Easy
One of only a handful of novels published by black women during the forties, the story of ambitious Cleo Judson is a long-time cult classic. "The Living Is Easy" is delightfully wry and ironic humor -- even bitchiness -- of the novel coexists with a challenging moral and social complexity.
376 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1948
About the author
Dorothy West
35 books139 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Dorothy West was a novelist and short story writer who was part of the Harlem Renaissance. She is best known for her novel The Living Is Easy, about the life of an upper-class black family.
West's principal contribution to the Harlem Renaissance was to publish the magazine Challenge, which she founded in 1934 with $40. She also published the magazines successor, New Challenge. These magazines were among the first to publish literature featuring realistic portrayals of African Americans. Among the works published were Richard Wright's groundbreaking essay "Blueprint for Negro Writing," together with writings by Margaret Walker and Ralph Ellison.
After both magazines folded because of insufficient financing, West worked for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers' Project until the mid-1940s. During this time she wrote a number of short stories for the New York Daily News. She then moved to Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, where she wrote her first novel, The Living Is Easy. Published in 1948, her novel was well received critically but did not sell many copies.
In the four decades after, West worked as a journalist, primarily writing for a small newspaper on Martha's Vineyard. In 1982 a feminist press brought The Living Is Easy back into print, giving new attention to West and her role in the Harlem Renaissance. As a result of this attention, at age 85 West finally finished a second novel, titled The Wedding. Published in 1995, the novel was a best-seller and resulted in the publication of a collection of West's short stories and reminiscences called The Richer, the Poorer. Oprah Winfrey turned the novel into a two-part television miniseries, The Wedding (TV miniseries).
Dorothy West was a novelist and short story writer who was part of the Harlem Renaissance. She is best known for her novel The Living Is Easy, about the life of an upper-class black family.
West's principal contribution to the Harlem Renaissance was to publish the magazine Challenge, which she founded in 1934 with $40. She also published the magazines successor, New Challenge. These magazines were among the first to publish literature featuring realistic portrayals of African Americans. Among the works published were Richard Wright's groundbreaking essay "Blueprint for Negro Writing," together with writings by Margaret Walker and Ralph Ellison.
After both magazines folded because of insufficient financing, West worked for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers' Project until the mid-1940s. During this time she wrote a number of short stories for the New York Daily News. She then moved to Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, where she wrote her first novel, The Living Is Easy. Published in 1948, her novel was well received critically but did not sell many copies.
In the four decades after, West worked as a journalist, primarily writing for a small newspaper on Martha's Vineyard. In 1982 a feminist press brought The Living Is Easy back into print, giving new attention to West and her role in the Harlem Renaissance. As a result of this attention, at age 85 West finally finished a second novel, titled The Wedding. Published in 1995, the novel was a best-seller and resulted in the publication of a collection of West's short stories and reminiscences called The Richer, the Poorer. Oprah Winfrey turned the novel into a two-part television miniseries, The Wedding (TV miniseries).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
May 30, 2021
This edition is a reissue of a book originally published in the 1940s by the youngest member of the Harlem Renaissance. It was her first novel and it reflects her background among the Negro elite in Boston. Her father was a prosperous businessman, the Banana King, and one of the characters in this book is based in him. However, the main character is the Banana King’s wife Cleo. She is smart, sharp-tongued, ambitious, proud, duplicitous, controlling, a money-grubbing snob and a lot of other adjectives.
Cleo and her three younger sisters were the light-skinned daughters of a sharecropper. Cleo expected to become a rich young widow when she married Bart at 18, but he turned out to be surprisingly robust although he was 23 years her senior. He was also kind, loving, generous, trusting and indulgent and Cleo appreciated none of that. She schemed to get all of her sisters moved to their house in Boston, leaving their respective husbands (and their sick, elderly father) behind to fend for themselves. Cleo was not really cut out for servitude. “At such times she put on an apron, held her proud head above the level of everybody’s eyes, and wished they would all drop dead.” She was also not kind. Of her elderly landlord who had been a maid until she inherited her house: “She stared with pity and revulsion at the wrinkled monkey face, the dim eyes behind the gold-rimmed spectacles, and the mottled hands that were like burnt matchsticks.”
I found this book a little strange and uneven, but it was also an illuminating glimpse into how this segment of Boston society operated. It illustrates how complicated race is when you assign people traits and positions in society based on the exact shade of their skin. It also presents a portrait of an unforgettable woman.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
Cleo and her three younger sisters were the light-skinned daughters of a sharecropper. Cleo expected to become a rich young widow when she married Bart at 18, but he turned out to be surprisingly robust although he was 23 years her senior. He was also kind, loving, generous, trusting and indulgent and Cleo appreciated none of that. She schemed to get all of her sisters moved to their house in Boston, leaving their respective husbands (and their sick, elderly father) behind to fend for themselves. Cleo was not really cut out for servitude. “At such times she put on an apron, held her proud head above the level of everybody’s eyes, and wished they would all drop dead.” She was also not kind. Of her elderly landlord who had been a maid until she inherited her house: “She stared with pity and revulsion at the wrinkled monkey face, the dim eyes behind the gold-rimmed spectacles, and the mottled hands that were like burnt matchsticks.”
I found this book a little strange and uneven, but it was also an illuminating glimpse into how this segment of Boston society operated. It illustrates how complicated race is when you assign people traits and positions in society based on the exact shade of their skin. It also presents a portrait of an unforgettable woman.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
October 9, 2014
Cleo is one of the most despicable characters I have ever had the displeasure of reading about.
This book can be summarized something like this.
Once upon a time a devilish child named Cleo was born. Her sisters had the misfortune of being very innocent and naïve. She took advantage of them. She hurt them. She was happy.
Cleo grew up and moved away. Her sisters started to have normal lives. Cleo was unhappy about this. This simply would not do. They were too far away from her tentacles. She tricked them. She hurt them. She was happy.
The elite colored Boston community was also caricatured. They were Cleo's equals in cruelty and heartlessness. She was among her peeps.
I love a good villain, but Cleo was just too much for me! Unfortunately that was not the only problem I had with this novel. The storyline just did not interest me, and I struggled to finish this one.
This book can be summarized something like this.
Once upon a time a devilish child named Cleo was born. Her sisters had the misfortune of being very innocent and naïve. She took advantage of them. She hurt them. She was happy.
Cleo grew up and moved away. Her sisters started to have normal lives. Cleo was unhappy about this. This simply would not do. They were too far away from her tentacles. She tricked them. She hurt them. She was happy.
The elite colored Boston community was also caricatured. They were Cleo's equals in cruelty and heartlessness. She was among her peeps.
I love a good villain, but Cleo was just too much for me! Unfortunately that was not the only problem I had with this novel. The storyline just did not interest me, and I struggled to finish this one.
August 16, 2010
Whereas The Wedding brings up many topics of discussion, the issues discussed in The Living Is Easy, are much more subtle. You have to read between the lines, look at the character's actions because their words are usually false. I have to admit, Cleo drove me nuts. She was so SELFISH. I can understand wanting your family to be near you since she hasn't seen them in many years, but the ways she goes about bringing her sisters to Boston is horrible. Cleo is manipulative, greedy, cruel and yet, she has her soft moments that hint at an inner kindess. The moments are rare and far between though. Worse than Cleo were her spineless sisters. Cleo really isn't that powerful, she is only able to manipulative those who are weaker than her, so she's not as impressive. She doesn't understand the concepts of saving money (thinking her husband's money will last forever) and she is stuck on color. Light color. Her dark daugther, Judy, is repulsive to her. Cleo herself is very light as is most of Boston's elite. Yet for all her faults, Cleo does have the right idea, she just goes about in a twisted way. She wants to teach her daughter and the children of her sisters to be proud Black children, they are second to no white people. "You're four little children. That's all you have to call yourselves. if you think you're different, you'll just act different, and people will treat you differently. Just remember that brains are the only thing that counts. And brains are not black or white. [...:] If she let her heart go, it would flood with pity because they were little colored children. And what would she use then to bolster their pride?" pg. 221-222
This novel provides a fascinating look at life in Boston for the Black elite. Some members tried to pass, they were usually successful because the rich Black Bostonian community would not tell their secret. It's infuriating but many of them looked down on Southern Black people. If you had no money and weren't a member of the Old Families of Boston, you were considered to be nothing. Issues of class and race intersect as does family. Cleo doesn't think she loves her husband, but she takes him for granted. I wish the novel had explored the relationships of Cleo's sisters better (especially Victor, Lily's husband. He seemed like a fine man until Cleo came along). The worst part is, Cleo ruins the lives of her sistes and her husband and daughter, but they don't blame her. The Living Is Easy quite clearly demonstrates that the living is not easy and it does so in a vivid, page turning way.
PS A sweet exchange between Serena and Robert as Serena prepares to leave her husband, Robert and the girls' father for Boston to visit Cleo. Robert: "'I can't read but a little bit. I never went to school.'
She said with tenderness, 'There'll be love in my letters, won't there? All you have to do is watch for it to spill out the envelope, and hold your heart ready to catch it.
'You won't go off and forget to come back?'
'When I forget God's in the sky, I'll forget to come back to you. And there's no way to live and breathe in this world without knowing God's on high.'" pg. 163
This novel provides a fascinating look at life in Boston for the Black elite. Some members tried to pass, they were usually successful because the rich Black Bostonian community would not tell their secret. It's infuriating but many of them looked down on Southern Black people. If you had no money and weren't a member of the Old Families of Boston, you were considered to be nothing. Issues of class and race intersect as does family. Cleo doesn't think she loves her husband, but she takes him for granted. I wish the novel had explored the relationships of Cleo's sisters better (especially Victor, Lily's husband. He seemed like a fine man until Cleo came along). The worst part is, Cleo ruins the lives of her sistes and her husband and daughter, but they don't blame her. The Living Is Easy quite clearly demonstrates that the living is not easy and it does so in a vivid, page turning way.
PS A sweet exchange between Serena and Robert as Serena prepares to leave her husband, Robert and the girls' father for Boston to visit Cleo. Robert: "'I can't read but a little bit. I never went to school.'
She said with tenderness, 'There'll be love in my letters, won't there? All you have to do is watch for it to spill out the envelope, and hold your heart ready to catch it.
'You won't go off and forget to come back?'
'When I forget God's in the sky, I'll forget to come back to you. And there's no way to live and breathe in this world without knowing God's on high.'" pg. 163
February 6, 2021
I spent a week with Cleo and her sisters and I couldn't finish the book fast enough and not because it was good, but that I wanted to get out of that suffocating house! After more than 300 pages, I still don't know where Cleo's sense of entitlement comes from and why she wanted her sisters and their children to live with her if it was only to treat them poorly and to steal money from them. While I didn't care for this, I am looking forward to discussing it in my book club; perhaps someone can shed some light on Cleo and her motives.
April 5, 2023
A savage little masterpiece. Cleo Judson is the best literary antiheroine I’ve met since Becky Sharp, and this tale of her Machiavellian rise through Boston’s upper-class black society, and the consequences of her actions, is well-told, at times hilarious, and one of the best novels I’ve ever read about the fear of falling that plagues those without the generational wealth and deep familial support to survive such a fall. This fear shapes Cleo in ways that rang true to me, and it dramatically changes the life of the family and friends who exist within Cleo’s blast radius.
Particularly if you’re looking to expand your range of black and/or female writers, I can’t recommend this book enough. Regardless of race or gender, it’s a darkly entertaining piece of work that deserves a much broader audience.
Particularly if you’re looking to expand your range of black and/or female writers, I can’t recommend this book enough. Regardless of race or gender, it’s a darkly entertaining piece of work that deserves a much broader audience.
February 15, 2021
In THE LIVING IS EASY, Cleo is a mother and wife in Boston in 1914. The novel starts with a description of her early life and how she was sent north from Carolina where she met her husband, Bart. Cleo is ambitious and trying to move up in status and class. Her husband is the banana king of Boston who makes money from bananas ripened in underground chambers. Cleo negotiates moving into a ten story house on the other side of town, explaining to her husband they can rent the rooms to boarders. Soon, Cleo convinces her three sister and their children to leave their husbands and the south to move in with her.
This book was difficult for me to get into. I didn’t start appreciating the rhythm until Chapter 4 when the plot started picking up. Cleo is a type of anti-hero not common in literature. She’s a black woman during World War I. She doesn’t have many opportunities herself so she manipulates her husband, friends, neighbors, her child, to get what she wants. Cleo is obsessed with color, status, and class and will do almost anything to move up. This novel explores large themes of race, colorism, feminism, class. Cleo is not likable, but I wonder if this is only because she’s a black woman. If she were a white business man, would she just be resourceful? That’s the question the reader carries through this book.
This novel feels like a first novel to me, everything is thrown into this book (and maybe West didn’t think she’d get another shot. She didn’t publish another book until the 1990s.) I don’t think this novel was well written. The sentences are clunky. The paragraphs are structured in a way that do not build suspense. However, I like that Cleo is a full character with flaws and strengths. I am very happy I read this book and I recommend this because we don’t have many books by black women from this time. We picked this book for the Spilling Tea book club for Black History month. If you want to read with us, send me a DM.▪️
This book was difficult for me to get into. I didn’t start appreciating the rhythm until Chapter 4 when the plot started picking up. Cleo is a type of anti-hero not common in literature. She’s a black woman during World War I. She doesn’t have many opportunities herself so she manipulates her husband, friends, neighbors, her child, to get what she wants. Cleo is obsessed with color, status, and class and will do almost anything to move up. This novel explores large themes of race, colorism, feminism, class. Cleo is not likable, but I wonder if this is only because she’s a black woman. If she were a white business man, would she just be resourceful? That’s the question the reader carries through this book.
This novel feels like a first novel to me, everything is thrown into this book (and maybe West didn’t think she’d get another shot. She didn’t publish another book until the 1990s.) I don’t think this novel was well written. The sentences are clunky. The paragraphs are structured in a way that do not build suspense. However, I like that Cleo is a full character with flaws and strengths. I am very happy I read this book and I recommend this because we don’t have many books by black women from this time. We picked this book for the Spilling Tea book club for Black History month. If you want to read with us, send me a DM.▪️
March 3, 2021
I'm so glad that The Feminist Press introduced me to Dorothy West through this reissue of "The Living is Easy".
From Brittanica, "Dorothy West, (born June 2, 1907, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.—died August 16, 1998, Boston), American writer who explored the aspirations and conflicts of middle-class African Americans in many of her works and was one of the last surviving members of the prominent group of black artists, writers, and musicians who flourished in New York City’s Harlem district during the Harlem Renaissance."
This story features an audacious protagonist, Cleo, who is determined to scheme, manipulate, and solidify her way into Boston's Black society. Along the way she bullies everyone in her path and the machinations are fascinating to read. How could a Black woman in the early 20th century be free? Well, Cleo chose one path. Highly recommend reading this book if you're in need of gossip, social intrigue, and Black history.
From Brittanica, "Dorothy West, (born June 2, 1907, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.—died August 16, 1998, Boston), American writer who explored the aspirations and conflicts of middle-class African Americans in many of her works and was one of the last surviving members of the prominent group of black artists, writers, and musicians who flourished in New York City’s Harlem district during the Harlem Renaissance."
This story features an audacious protagonist, Cleo, who is determined to scheme, manipulate, and solidify her way into Boston's Black society. Along the way she bullies everyone in her path and the machinations are fascinating to read. How could a Black woman in the early 20th century be free? Well, Cleo chose one path. Highly recommend reading this book if you're in need of gossip, social intrigue, and Black history.
February 15, 2021
This book grew on me even though, by the end of the book I had decided it was a very sad story of a man and a woman who had gotten married but neither could give what the other wanted. I would often be angry with Cleo, the wife, throughout the book, but no more so at the end of the book when she did NOT understand that EVERYONE had ultimately lived the life that she wanted them to live (despite what the individual wanted or expected) and no one was really happy.
The writing was mostly delicious and what kept me poring through the book.
The writing was mostly delicious and what kept me poring through the book.
November 2, 2017
The premise enticed me to read this book about the daughter of a poor southern sharecropper moving to Boston and longing to fit in with high society. But the unlikable protagonist and her dysfunctional family are tiring.
February 8, 2021
This is Dorothy West's first novel, written in 1948 and I picked it up for book club. Cleo is the eldest of four sisters, born and raised in the South. At 14, she moves north to Boston to work. She meets her husband who is 23 years older and is a successful (although perhaps not wealthy) businessman. Early on in the story the author lets us know what a manipulative witch (or perhaps a word that rhymes with witch) that Cleo actually is. Cleo decides she needs to have her sisters move North and live in a large house with her and her daughter Judy. Men are not really welcome, except for Cleo's husband and just barely, but he is paying the bills. The major part of the book takes place in 1914, and there are many themes related to race and social status throughout the book. This was not the easiest book to get into and at times I wanted to throw it across the room as Cleo made me crazy. It gets 3 stars because there was a lot (maybe too much) going on and because I found Cleo too unlikeable.
January 29, 2018
It's difficult to like a story when you strongly dislike the main character. Cleo was a horrible, despicable human being. It had the potential to be a well written story, but somehow the author missed the mark. The funny thing with fiction is that although it's not true, it has to be believable and this story wasn't. The only redeemable character was Judy. She was wise beyond her years, thoughtful and had a beautiful heart. Beyond her, every other character was almost laughable. I struggled to finish this book.
April 8, 2013
Have not had a fiction character make me want to pull my eyelashes out in quite awhile but Cleo fixed that!
This novel is very different from "The Wedding", which I absolutely loved, but it was still a great read. I wish Dorothy West had written more.
This novel is very different from "The Wedding", which I absolutely loved, but it was still a great read. I wish Dorothy West had written more.
March 26, 2015
This is one of my favorite books. It doesn't get as much attention as The Wedding, but I love it.
December 20, 2020
My goodness, Cleo might be the most unlikable character I've ever read. She has absolutely no redeeming qualities.
March 2, 2018
Well, it was a difficult one. Difficult not because of the complexity of the writing nor the storyline, but because of its protagonist, Cleo. Numerous were the times when I found my jaw on the floor due to this character's actions. She is manipulative, deceitful, and most important of all, the queen of liars! And the naivety of some of the other characters was just through the roof.
It was a good read, nonetheless.
It was a good read, nonetheless.
January 27, 2024
This book is wild. I have SO many thoughts.
First, I’m astonished at how contemporary a 75 year old book taking place in 1912 reads. I’m grateful to be digging into more works from the Harlem Renaissance. The influence on so many of my favorite writers is palpable. The talented creativity to weave the story and character development makes me appreciate this book on a craft level.
Okay, the story and characters. PHEW. Cleo is so unlikeable this book was straight up painful to read at parts. The manipulation and deception made me so incredibly uncomfortable — but is really a testament to West’s writing. Through the lying and meanness, there is such powerful commentary on colorism, social mobility, racism, money, capitalism, what is love, hope, shame, trust, and more. This book could use its own college class to drill down into all of the complex layers throughout.
At times I struggled to keep going with this one because Cleo is a hard person to spend time (and I felt sad for Mr Judson). There is so much meddling in a very Austen way but everything Cleo touches is ruined and manipulated manipulated with no rock bottom. …and yet — maybe it is sometimes from a strange place of love, care, and survival. Part II unexpectedly brought an unexpected compassion for our Machiavellian main character but she still remains Cleo.
I appreciated how slowly of a read this book was. Rather than seeing it as a reading rut, I think some books are just meant to be read slower. I intentionally lowered my reading goal this year to make space for the books that need more time.
First, I’m astonished at how contemporary a 75 year old book taking place in 1912 reads. I’m grateful to be digging into more works from the Harlem Renaissance. The influence on so many of my favorite writers is palpable. The talented creativity to weave the story and character development makes me appreciate this book on a craft level.
Okay, the story and characters. PHEW. Cleo is so unlikeable this book was straight up painful to read at parts. The manipulation and deception made me so incredibly uncomfortable — but is really a testament to West’s writing. Through the lying and meanness, there is such powerful commentary on colorism, social mobility, racism, money, capitalism, what is love, hope, shame, trust, and more. This book could use its own college class to drill down into all of the complex layers throughout.
At times I struggled to keep going with this one because Cleo is a hard person to spend time (and I felt sad for Mr Judson). There is so much meddling in a very Austen way but everything Cleo touches is ruined and manipulated manipulated with no rock bottom. …and yet — maybe it is sometimes from a strange place of love, care, and survival. Part II unexpectedly brought an unexpected compassion for our Machiavellian main character but she still remains Cleo.
I appreciated how slowly of a read this book was. Rather than seeing it as a reading rut, I think some books are just meant to be read slower. I intentionally lowered my reading goal this year to make space for the books that need more time.
January 5, 2020
I wasn't aware that there were black Boston Brahmins, but after reading this book it makes sense. Cleo is accepted into Boston's elite black society through her marriage to The Black Banana King. From the start the marriage is a rocky one, Cleo is not one to submit and her husband doesn't understand her need for wealth and its appearance. The setting takes place mostly in a house rented from a wealthy Bostonian who's moving out because of the arrival of undesirable neighbors, the Irish. Once the house is acquired, Cleo collects her sisters together and moves them in with her, which in most cases destroys the sister's family ties with their husbands and the sisters themselves. Cleo's need for control is also self-destructive, it poisons her relationships with almost everyone.
At the end all of Cleo's work is for naught, her family is growing increasingly poor and dysfunctional ending with her husband's business failure and his leaving for New York for a fresh start. An interesting bit of history wrapped up in a work of fiction.
At the end all of Cleo's work is for naught, her family is growing increasingly poor and dysfunctional ending with her husband's business failure and his leaving for New York for a fresh start. An interesting bit of history wrapped up in a work of fiction.
October 29, 2021
West's debut, one of only several novels by a black woman published in the 1940s. The prose style is frequently astonishing, but lots of problems with characterization (a deeply unlikable main character that doesn't feel exactly intended as such) & narrative (somehow it just doesn't move). But there's still so much of interest here; looking forward to exploring West's acclaimed later novels.
Read #16 of "2021: My Year of (Mostly) Midcentury Women Writers"]
Read #16 of "2021: My Year of (Mostly) Midcentury Women Writers"]
June 4, 2023
5th star for its historical importance! Debut from the youngest member of the Harlem Renaissance; their luster began to fade. Excellent look at how women are “stuck” either domestically or in only a few other spheres in this time. And how class and colorism play their parts. Cleo is hard to like much of the time, so credit to West’s skills for keeping me in her corner, along with her family and associates. Criminal that this novel is not better known or taught. Check it out!!
December 31, 2019
This book was so good! I put off reading it because I had a physical copy and I’m so used to reading on my kindle. Anyway such a great story and when I got going, I kept reading to find out what would happen.
March 9, 2021
I chose this book for Women’s History Month. It’s an eye-opener. Definitely a fresh perspective for me. Highly recommend.
August 1, 2021
Review will be posted on Independent Book Review!
June 18, 2022
I started this book a long time ago as we were reading it for book club. I have since disbanded the club as it was too much work without my husband to help me.
This made me read this even more slowly. It's not a book for when you're grieving, the characters are despicable.
This made me read this even more slowly. It's not a book for when you're grieving, the characters are despicable.
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November 23, 2023Dorothy West didn’t write that much fiction all told. But she was forever involved in publishing, editing, and other fields related to writing. In the mid-1990s she published her first new novel in a few decades The Wedding which won acclaim because it’s good, because Oprah took notice, and because it was her first novel in a few decades.
This novel came out in the late 1940s and it shares an obvious connection to another novel from that time The Street by Ann Petry. They have some parallels. Both novels are written by educated Black women (in an era where that was not the norm); both look at city life in the North for Black women, and both start with a Black woman looking for a new place to live. Whereas Ann Petry’s novel has a darker tone and is about the complications of poverty and single motherhood, this novel has a much lighter tone, somewhat loftier goals for the protagonist, and not necessarily the most sympathetic ends for her either.
Similar to scenes from Native Son where liberal whites try to give African-Americans a chance (laden with unfair expectation and a nefarious racist mission) this novel begins with a rich white man offering his nice house to Cleo for much less than it’s worth to rent. While he plays at altruism, it’s clear to both the reader and to Cleo that he just doesn’t want to be associated with the changing complexion of the neighborhood. Offered an exceedingly good deal, she haggles. That sets the tone for the novel: in the face of disingenuous white generosity, she bites back and takes what she can. For example, her next steps are to bring in as many boarders as possible to make her already good deal that much sweeter.
From there the novel involves Cleo convincing her sisters to move back in with her and then goes through a series of different mishaps, plots, and events. There’s not a strong throughline of plot in this novel, other than the themes of family connection, race, and womanhood.
It’s an interesting novel that I enjoyed for the most part, though it definitely became a bit of a chore to finish.
This novel came out in the late 1940s and it shares an obvious connection to another novel from that time The Street by Ann Petry. They have some parallels. Both novels are written by educated Black women (in an era where that was not the norm); both look at city life in the North for Black women, and both start with a Black woman looking for a new place to live. Whereas Ann Petry’s novel has a darker tone and is about the complications of poverty and single motherhood, this novel has a much lighter tone, somewhat loftier goals for the protagonist, and not necessarily the most sympathetic ends for her either.
Similar to scenes from Native Son where liberal whites try to give African-Americans a chance (laden with unfair expectation and a nefarious racist mission) this novel begins with a rich white man offering his nice house to Cleo for much less than it’s worth to rent. While he plays at altruism, it’s clear to both the reader and to Cleo that he just doesn’t want to be associated with the changing complexion of the neighborhood. Offered an exceedingly good deal, she haggles. That sets the tone for the novel: in the face of disingenuous white generosity, she bites back and takes what she can. For example, her next steps are to bring in as many boarders as possible to make her already good deal that much sweeter.
From there the novel involves Cleo convincing her sisters to move back in with her and then goes through a series of different mishaps, plots, and events. There’s not a strong throughline of plot in this novel, other than the themes of family connection, race, and womanhood.
It’s an interesting novel that I enjoyed for the most part, though it definitely became a bit of a chore to finish.
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December 19, 2022Tells the story of Cleo Jericho Hudson, a sharecropper's daughter who leaves the South to seek a better life in Boston. Coming up north she lived and worked in a white woman's house , one thing she never wanted to do. There she meets, the Black banana king, Bart Judson, 21 years her junior, "whose wealth and prestige allow Cleo to become a member of Boston's early 20th century Black elite, into which one gains entry through money, light-skinned beauty, or both." As a Black woman, born into a poor southern family she didn't have many opportunities for herself, so she uses the people around her to get what she wants. Everyone from her daughter who she's growing to be "a proper Bostonian" , to the Black doctors, lawyers and, families with old money and strong names. Cleo will never go back to her lower class beginnings.
Even though she's a mother and wife, Cleo is neither loving or nurturing and her main focus is recreating her life with her three sisters, Charity, Serena & Lily, But this time, in the upper-class Boston suburb of Brookline and not the poor south, and she isn't above lying, stealing, and manipulating everyone in her path, to get what she wants; money, class, status & her sisters!
Cleo, Cleo, Cleo. I've never read a book with a more self-centered, conniving, hateful, classist, money hungry woman like Cleo and I loved it! She's the most unlikable character I've read & I couldn't wait to see what lie she would spit out next, how she would steal money from her husband and what snobby thing she would say about the poor Black people in Boston.
"She smiled brightly at her own ability to taste untruths on her tongue and make no betraying grimace. "
Dorothy did an amazing job writing Cleo as an unlikable character who only cared about class, color and money.
The supporting characters were well thought out, from Black doctors, lawyers, writers, and each person gave West different avenues to showcase Cleo's lust for social mobility.
Even though she's a mother and wife, Cleo is neither loving or nurturing and her main focus is recreating her life with her three sisters, Charity, Serena & Lily, But this time, in the upper-class Boston suburb of Brookline and not the poor south, and she isn't above lying, stealing, and manipulating everyone in her path, to get what she wants; money, class, status & her sisters!
Cleo, Cleo, Cleo. I've never read a book with a more self-centered, conniving, hateful, classist, money hungry woman like Cleo and I loved it! She's the most unlikable character I've read & I couldn't wait to see what lie she would spit out next, how she would steal money from her husband and what snobby thing she would say about the poor Black people in Boston.
"She smiled brightly at her own ability to taste untruths on her tongue and make no betraying grimace. "
Dorothy did an amazing job writing Cleo as an unlikable character who only cared about class, color and money.
The supporting characters were well thought out, from Black doctors, lawyers, writers, and each person gave West different avenues to showcase Cleo's lust for social mobility.
July 19, 2011
Portrait of Cleo, a powerful woman, social climbing in age of discrimination as light-skinned Southern black woman tried to turn her child and her sister's children into proper Bostonians around WWI. Cleo's terrific determination and energy rivet your attention as she stuffs her house with relatives, meanwhile relegating her husband to the role of meek bread-winner running a banana import business down at Fanueil Hall docks. West was a lesser-known figure in the Harlem Renaissance who ended her days presiding over a parade of visitors to her house in Martha's Vineyard at the Oak Bluffs enclave. West founded and edited The Challenge, but could not sustain the quality of submissions she sought, growing tired of stories of racial struggle which began to seem repetitious and presaged the late 20th century's focus on stories of agency and power rather than victimhood.
May 13, 2012
So,The Living is Easy by Dorothy West was written in the 1940's, one of few books to be published by black women at the time, and takes place in the beginning of the 20th of century. It's about a woman, named Cleo Judson, who's adamant that she'll become a member of Boston's elite. She's married to the "black banana king", and through manipulation she gets her sisters and their kids to come and live with her.
I thought the book was interesting, it taught me many things about the lives of black women at the turn of the century. It wasn't the best book I've read, but if you're interested in learning more about women's lives at this time, I do recommend it
I thought the book was interesting, it taught me many things about the lives of black women at the turn of the century. It wasn't the best book I've read, but if you're interested in learning more about women's lives at this time, I do recommend it
September 1, 2012
The main character is an ambitious, greedy woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants, including lying to her husband and sisters. She persuades her sisters and their children to leave their husbands, and move in with her and her family. Also, she cons them into giving her money, persuading them into thinking that the reason is due to hard times. Her husband is a successful banana merchant, who thinks she has the sisters living with them because they are having financial and family trouble. He wants to help. I like this book because it has similiarities between the characters and people the author knew. Like her main character's husband, the author's father was a banana merchant.
October 26, 2010
Okay, many may find it ironic that this is the most frustrating book I have read from the AA genre, but it is. Perhaps because this book lulled me into a false sense of security. With all of the other books I have read from this period and genre I already knew to expect frustration, sadness, and a general dissapointment with American society. This book deceived me.
I know what you are thinking, "But April, isn't that the point?" ::sniff:: Maybe, but I am so badly scarred that I do not care. I will now end on that dramatic, or "wild", note.
I know what you are thinking, "But April, isn't that the point?" ::sniff:: Maybe, but I am so badly scarred that I do not care. I will now end on that dramatic, or "wild", note.
January 8, 2017
Cleo is possibly the least sympathetic character I have ever read about. I wouldn't call her a villain. She is far to human to be a mere villain. But she is selfish and manipulative and blindly ambitious. The story is unlike any I have ever read. I didn't even realize this time period for blacks existed in American history. It is a well written book and my distaste for Cleo does not detract from my enjoyment of the tale. In fact, I think that it is rather the point.
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