I found an excellent article on the Guardian's website that talks about various reactions to The Group when it was published and how Mary McCarthy felt about it. I hadn't realised it caused so much controversy; it was even banned in Australia.
Mary McCarthy led an interesting life by all accounts. There's a biography cited in the above article that I think I'll add to my wish list.

I read 'The Group' about 15-20 years ago. My ex Mother-Out-Law gave me a batch of books that included this one. It's an interesting read, and I'm looking forward to seeing what y'all make of it!

Like frankie, I'm going to wait until I've finished the book before I read the article. I'm about halfway through chapter four at the moment, and I'm finding it an utterly fascinating read, although more for the progressive nature of the book written in the 1960s than for the plot or characters so far, but those are still good too! :mrgreen:

I'm still waiting for this to arrive! am getting very impatient now! I want to read this!

I want to read it, but I haven't got it .. unless it's at the bookfair tomorrow then I doubt I can join in but I look forward to hearing what you all make of it and bumping it up or down my list :mrgreen: Oosh likes it already, that's a good sign.

Well, I've just finished it. I've put my comments in my reading blog for now, as I want to wait until some of the other readers have finished it so I don't spoil anything here for the moment.

I finished it yesterday, and enjoyed it all the way to the end. I was interested in all the characters and their stories, and didn't find it quite as hair-raising as I thought it might be from the comments!

Weave, on 19 May 2011 - 07:00 AM, said:
I ordered my copy today

Good news, Weave!
My reading of The Group is going sooo slowly. I haven't been motivated to read at all recently, and when I do, I'm struggling to want to read The Group. It's going OK and is reasonably interesting, but it's not exactly gripping reading.
I just read a brief bit in the novel about a waiters' strike at a hotel that mentioned the real-life Dorothy Parker. I was interested to see if there really was such a strike that Dorothy attended so I did a little research and found that it's true. There's an account of the event in this article.
Interestingly, there was a real magazine called Common Sense, and two men from the magazine really did start up a speech encouraging the diners to walk out. It doesn't give their names, but I assume that's where the fictional element comes in and that they were not named Harald and Put.

Kylie, on 24 May 2011 - 01:50 AM, said:
Good news, Weave!
My reading of The Group is going sooo slowly. I haven't been motivated to read at all recently, and when I do, I'm struggling to want to read The Group. It's going OK and is reasonably interesting, but it's not exactly gripping reading.
I just read a brief bit in the novel about a waiters' strike at a hotel that mentioned the real-life Dorothy Parker. I was interested to see if there really was such a strike that Dorothy attended so I did a little research and found that it's true. There's an account of the event in this article.
Interestingly, there was a real magazine called Common Sense, and two men from the magazine really did start up a speech encouraging the diners to walk out. It doesn't give their names, but I assume that's where the fictional element comes in and that they were not named Harald and Put.