“The Divorcées” by Rowan Beaird Is a Story of Womanhood, Oppression, and Desire
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Looking for your next read? Welcome to Bazaar Book Chat, an inside look at our editors’ Slack channel, where we candidly review the latest literary releases.
Rosa Sanchez (senior news editor)
Hello, @here! kicking off with another Bazaar Book Chat. For April, we read The Divorcées by Rowan Beaird. Set in the 1950s, the novel follows a woman, Louis, who travels to a “divorce ranch” in Reno and befriends a group of fellow ex-wives. She particularly gets close with one mysterious woman, Greer, who urges her to imagine a different, brighter future, all while keeping the details of her own past hidden.
The Divorcées
amazon.com
$25.99
Rosa Sanchez
First thoughts? What did you think of the Golden Yarrow? Were you aware that divorce ranches existed back then?
Ariana Marsh (senior features editor)
I didn’t know that they existed!
Tiffany Dodson (associate beauty commerce editor)
I was pretty much instantly hooked! I thought it was really interesting how the author started the novel in the future and worked backward—also didn’t know divorce ranches existed in the ’50s!
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Joel Calfee (editorial and social media assistant)
Okay, first off, I had no idea that divorce ranches existed, and I ended up in a deep spiral reading up about them when I started this book, lol. What a weirdly roundabout way to make that happen!
Rosa Sanchez
Same. I had no idea, and after starting the book I went down a divorce ranch rabbit hole and it’s so fascinating—awful what women had to do to get a divorce, but so interesting. It also lends to an intriguing space and situation for a story—a bunch of hurt women eager to break loose from their husbands, living in one place and going to the bar every night—and I think Beaird did a good job creating suspense in the first few chapters to ultimately lead us to the drama at the end.
Joel Calfee
It’s giving like the opposite of Don't Worry Darling, hahaha.
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Rosa Sanchez
But also weirdly controlled.
Ariana Marsh
Agreed, I think setting the book in a divorce ranch was so brilliant because it innately led to really interesting explorations of class and gender and agency within a very specific framework.
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Tiffany Dodson
Totally! especially once the story revealed that there were different classes of divorce ranches in the area.
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Rosa Sanchez
The conversation around class was sooo interesting. And how Louis feels so out of place with her clothes and the women obsess over Greer because she seems like she might be rich.
What did you think about the relationship between Louis and Greer and how it evolves as the story goes on?
Ariana Marsh
At first I loved her because she eschewed (now antiquated) notions of what a woman should look and be like at that time and challenged the girls to do the same. But as the book wore on I definitely became wary of her.
💯4
She was all about not letting anyone control you as a woman, yet she definitely had some sort of control over Lois and the other girls.
Rosa Sanchez
Totally. I was like, what a cool girl. And then when she started giving them orders I was like... is she maybe crazy?
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Joel Calfee
I thought it was interesting that no one knows her name at first. They just keep referring to her as "the new girl." I think that automatically lent a sense of mystery to her character and it suggests that she wants to maintain this mystique or something.
Rosa Sanchez
Yeah. It took a sec for me to think she was hiding something bigger with all that mystery.
re: their relationship, I feel like it became so much about obsession and desire and about Louis wanting not only Greer’s attention but sort of to be her. On the other hand, I think we come to learn that other women build genuine bonds due to their shared experiences. It feels like if Louis had given them the time of day, she would’ve been able to find a friendship like the one she was so eager to have with Greer.
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Chelsey Sanchez (associate editor)
Honestly, Greer and Louis’s friendship reminded me somewhat of the friendship between J.Lo and Constance Wu's characters in Hustlers lol. Or even Roxie and Velma in Chicago. Greer has that femme fatale thing going on.
😂3
Tiffany Dodson
In the beginning I thought it was nice that Lois and Greer were building a friendship, since Lois felt so separated and awkward around the other women at the ranch. But as I kept reading, it kind of seemed like Greer was treating Lois like her little pet instead of an equal which was strange. But I agree, Lois definitely wanted to be Greer at first, especially around the time she agreed to mend her loose button and ended up trying her shirt completely on.
Joel Calfee
It’s also interesting that early on, Greer calls Lois a liar lol. She’s like, “You tell everyone different stories.” Could you imagine someone you just met coming out guns blazing like that?
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Rosa Sanchez
The shirt scene was totally giving Jacob Elordi’s bathwater vibes (from Saltburn).
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Did any other women at the ranch intrigue you? Or did their storylines just push you to be more curious about Louis and Greer? I was pretty intrigued by the house mom (I forget her name) and how she seemed to genuinely care about the girls and was just left with nothing at the end. Hers seemed like one of the saddest stories for me.
Ariana Marsh
Rita! I loved Rita. She seemed to know that Greer was bad news from the beginning. Ariana MarshBut no one would listen to her—and as a reader, I didn't blame them.
Initially, she seemed overbearing but you come to realize that she's probably seen some shit and has good instincts.
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Tiffany Dodson
Rita was just trying to keep everyone together!
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Chelsey Sanchez
Rita and Greer seemed to be foils of each other—they both kind of represent these opposite outcomes of what it means to be an independent woman surviving divorce in the ’50s.
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I also really felt for Mary Elizabeth throughout the novel. She comes across as extremely naive in the beginning, but has endured probably some of the worst compared to the other women at the ranch.
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Tiffany Dodson
From the ongoing phone calls to her husband repeatedly showing up at the ranch to the Luminal—heartbreaking.
❗2
Rosa Sanchez
She seemed so sad. And her insane husband really puts a lot of the domestic violence issues back then into perspective. Like why some of these women had to literally escape to a ranch in the middle of nowhere.
❗2
How did you guys feel about the roles the men played in this—the husbands, the dudes at the bars, etc.?
Ariana Marsh
I loved that they were always sort of in the background or secondary since most stories that were told (in books, on film. etc) during that time period rarely centered women.
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Rosa Sanchez
And they were all so creepy!
Ariana Marsh
Except Charlie! But yeah, thinking about all of the creeps that probably went to bars in Reno just to meet women going through divorce.. it feels very icky.
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Rosa Sanchez
I did feel kinda bad for Charlie with some of the women saying he was too low class and smelled like cows.😭 But again, very of the era with the class commentary.
Ariana Marsh
Totally. And he was so isolated.
Chelsey Sanchez
It felt like the function of nearly all the male characters was to show how this system was built to cater entirely to them. There’s the obvious example with Mary Elizabeth's ex-husband, who is overtly cruel and abusive, but even Louis's ex-husband, who is initially portrayed as sweet and good-natured, exploits his wife's position in society as someone without institutional power and agency. His behavior may seem benign, but it's such an act of interpersonal violence to throw away your wife's form of contraception.... and then withhold the money you promised her after the divorce.
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Ariana Marsh
This! ^ Even Lois’s lawyer tried asking her out after her divorce was finalized. Like, sir.
Chelsey Sanchez
Read the room!
Rosa Sanchez
Totally agree. The lawyer was creepy and annoying, some husbands were violent, others boring and narcissistic. The men at the bar just wanted to take advantage of the girls. But it’s ironic that the person who ends up betraying the girls in the end is one of their own.
Ariana Marsh
A sheep in men’s clothing.
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Rosa Sanchez
So accurate.
So, throughout the book we get a big evolution from Louis, and despite how her relationship with Greer ends, do you think she needed Greer to find herself?
Chelsey Sanchez
I do kind of think Louis needed Greer to evolve, but moreso because Louis needed genuine connection—which, up until she got to the ranch, she just didn't have with anyone else in her life. It's clear that she was an outsider in school, and that her relationships with her family and ex husband were superficial at best. Something about feeling seen by Greer probably allowed her to embrace herself in a way she never has before.
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Ariana Marsh
I agree. I think she needed someone to also show her that an independent future post-ranch was possible since none of the other women pursued that really.
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Rosa Sanchez
I also think that in becoming fascinated with Greer and seeing herself as an object of fascination in Greer’s eyes, she grew. She began to feel more confident in herself through the way she behaved and even dressed. She was met with a choice to rebel and do the bad thing for once in her life—and then she pulled herself out of it. And in the end, despite how she feels about Greer, she does take her advice when it comes to men and, in some ways, to her own life as an independent, unmarried woman.
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Tiffany Dodson
I agree, I think bonding with Greer was the impetus Lois needed to ultimately find inner strength as a single, independent woman and put herself first—even to eat the way that she wanted to!
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Rosa Sanchez
It’s giving “thanK you aIMee.”
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Rosa Sanchez
Wait, side note, did anyone else find it weird that the author kept talking about thumbs? Thumbs bleeding, thumb marks. I thought I would eventually find the meaning but I don’t know that I did.
Ariana Marsh
Wow I didn't even notice that. I was obsessed with the descriptions of the food that was served at the ranch, though. They were my thumbs.
😂3
Joel Calfee
I was gonna say I noticed a ton of food descriptions too!!
Chelsey Sanchez
Omg I know I like a book’s writing when the food makes my stomach audibly grumble, which The Divorcées definitely did, lol.
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Rosa Sanchez
hahaha
Okay, final thoughts! What message, if any, did you get from the book and would you recommend it?
I actually had a lot of fun reading this. I think it’s a book about friendships and betrayal and desire—in Louis and Greer’s cases, a desire to have a bigger life than they were given in an era when women rarely got the opportunity to ask for more.
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Ariana Marsh
I loved that it centered on a range of female characters who were fully developed and, at times, unlikeable (gasp!)
😂1❗2
Chelsey Sanchez
Lmao.
Tiffany Dodson
One message that stood out for me was that things aren't always what they seem, even when you're confident that you understand something to its fullest extent. That can go for friendships, significant others, and people's character in general. Would definitely recommend!
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Chelsey Sanchez
Yes! More authors who aren’t afraid to write unlikeable women, please!
👏3
Chelsey Sanchez
Also, can I just talk fancasts really quick... Anya Taylor-Joy is so Greer-coded to me.
Ariana Marsh
Omg, YES.
Rosa Sanchez
Omg.
Joel Calfee
I totally see that, oh my gosh.
Chelsey Sanchez
HBO make this happen now.
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Tiffany Dodson
Lol to me Greer also gives Blake Lively in A Simple Favor!
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Rosa Sanchez
I could also see like Rosamund Pike. She knows how to be secretly crazy.
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