Prodigious ... Rollicking and wrenching ... This is a 638-page book whose action takes place over just a couple of months, and with very little exposition to speak of. So it is remarkable that, with the conspicuous exception of about 100 sagging, repetitive pages toward the middle...it flies ... This is not a so-called novel of ideas, or at least not of new ones. It is not the least bit experimental or formally inventive. It’s all about plot, baby, and that plot, for the most part, delivers ... And all this action is carried relentlessly forward on the surf of Stockett’s full-hearted, down-to-earth prose, her dialogue and inner monologues so well crafted that each sentence gives the impression of being not crafted at all, but inevitable ... Stockett’s portraits of good and evil, of rich and poor, of women with class and those who can’t afford it, can be uncomplicated to the point of cartoonish, but the point here isn’t so much moral complexity as it is pure, hell-raising entertainment.
While most early readers of The Calamity Club have been lauding the book on Goodreads, some have written that they find the mid-book turn to be disturbing, and trigger-warning-worthy in its darkness ... The novel knows what its readers want ... The genre Stockett works in—popular novels, aimed at mostly white female readers—specializes in stories about protagonists whose individual growth as people helps them rise above obstacles. That’s what The Help was, and that’s what The Calamity Club is, too, for better and for worse ... You can bet your bottom dollar that every member of this club will get the ultimate revenge, and Garnett Pittman will go to hell, as the reader closes this doorstop of a book, issuing forth a deep and happy sigh of satisfaction.
Zips along. Summer readers are in safe hands here ... The big-boned, broad-hearted story does sag a little round the midriff. But it feels forgivable given how impressively in-control Stockett is of her generous canvas of memorable characters and a plot-driven yarn that keeps the reader on tenterhooks until the end.
Vibrant narrators keep you reading Calamity Club even when things flag in the middle of the book, which didn’t need about 100 of its 632 pages ... In the end, the familiarity of The Calamity Club works in its favor ... Cozy and satisfying.
Stockett again satirizes the hypocrisy underpinning much of the early-twentieth-century South in a saga populated with memorable characters who rely on stock-in-trade pluck and sass to right all wrongs.
A long, winding narrative that keeps piling on more dramatic developments until all loose ends are neatly, if hastily, wrapped up in the final pages. Stockett might be making a point about Southern women facing facts and standing up for themselves, but mostly this is just a satisfyingly twisty tale that should make a great miniseries. Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.
Vibrant ... The pace slackens at times, but Stockett holds the reader’s attention with her colorful characters. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, this offers a memorable view into the impossible choices faced by women in the Great Depression.
