The Room-mating Season

Rona Jaffe is a critically acclaimed author, but The Room-mating Season was my first exposure to her.  This coming of age novel was interesting, sometimes a bit uncomfortable and thought provoking.  I believe the author's purpose may have been to give a commentary on society as it unfolded for three women from their early 20s in the 1960s into the new millennium when they are turning 60.

In New York in the 1960s (much like today I would imagine), it was difficult for a young woman to live alone.  She needed roommates in order to be able to afford an apartment.  Leigh (receptionist with higher aspirations at a talent agency) and Cady (prep school teacher) are college friends that decide they will find two other roommates and rent a one bedroom, one bath brownstone.  They place an ad and find Vanessa (stewardess), whom they both agree is perfect.  As a last resort, because no one else panned out, they accept Susan to be the fourth girl.  Cady, Leigh and Vanessa get along great, but Susan never quite fits in.  Eventually, the girls grow and move on except that a tragedy links them forever.  The novel follows their paths for 40 years until they are in their 60s, and their lives unfold in different ways based on the choices they made in their 20s.

At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to like this story.  The beginning was a bit slow, and these women were a little reminiscent of "mean girls" - a tad bratty, cliquish and shallow.  Eventually, enough of their story interested me that I wanted to find out where their lives would lead.  It was hard to feel a connection to them though, as each of them made such selfish decisions with no regard to anyone else's feelings.  Each of them has affairs with married men, or cheats on their spouse regularly, and that was hard for me to get past.  Even so, I found the novel compelling.  I wanted to find out the ramifications of these decisions and how the story would play out and I finished it quickly.  I still find the characters a bit shallow and selfish, but that doesn't make them dull.  It just kept me from rooting for them. 

I would give this a recommend for those that have the time and are looking for something a little different to read.  This is one that would be fun to have a conversation about, like a bad reality show, but it won't make my favorites list or be a book that I revisit.

Happy Reading!