The Torontonians

The arrival, one sunny morning, of pale green wall-to-wall carpeting for the living room is the crowning jewel in Karen Whitney's long-anticipated transformation of her house into a beautiful home, renovated to the exacting standards of her own impeccable taste. The banal finality of this event triggers an introspective voyage through the events of her life and how she became who she is: wife of business executive Rick, citizen of the suburb of Rowanwood, mother to two accomplished daughters in university.Before Betty Friedan coined the term feminine mystique, "The Torontonians" told a classic feminist story of suburban ennui and existential self-discovery, tracing a detailed portrait of femininity in the 1950s through the eyes of its perceptive and thoughtful heroine. The book is also a unique contemporary meditation on community and social ties from a time when Canada's major cities were just beginning to spread out into suburban sprawl. Rich in evocative detail about consumer culture, domesticity, and suburban life in postwar "Toronto the Good," Phyllis Brett Young's novel foreshadows questions raised by second wave feminism. "The Torontonians" is a powerful story about an educated, upper middle-class woman whose leisured life provides her with all the material comfort she could want but none of the emotional fulfilment she needs.

ISBN 0773533249   Pages 336 ISBN13 9780773533240 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher McGill-Queen's University Press   Weight (grammes) 445 Imprint McGill-Queen's University Press   Published in Montreal Format Paperback   Height (mm) 216 Publication date 15 Nov 2007   Width (mm) 141 Library of Congress PS   Spine width (mm) 22 DEWEY 813.54   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC21

"Karen Whitney is a heroine who can excite the interest of almost any civilized woman today ... In a growing catalogue of books that have been probing the sweet life of suburbia, Mrs. Young's stands out as both wise and witty." The New York Times July 23, 1961 "Phyllis Brett Young tilts at the sacred cows of suburbia, poking fun at the ranch-type bungalow, the bigger and better electrical appliances, the strange tribal customs of the natives such as the barbecue ... All these things are satirized with a lively, sophisticated touch." The Globe and Mail October 22, 1960

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