Other Women by Lisa Alther
"Other Women" by Lisa Alther is a novel that delves into the complexities of midlife crises, relationships, and personal identity. The protagonist, Caroline Kelly, is a single mother grappling with the challenges of raising two teenagers while navigating the emotional fallout of her divorce from a doctor and the dissolution of her relationship with her lesbian partner. Feeling increasingly unfulfilled in her career as an emergency room nurse, she reluctantly turns to therapy with Hannah Burke, a counselor who shares her own experiences of neglect and loss.
The narrative explores how Caroline's upbringing—marked by emotionally distant parents—has shaped her relationships and sense of self. As she confronts her feelings of neglect and the remnants of her past relationships, Caroline learns to embrace her identity and confront her emotional needs. The story raises thought-provoking questions about the dynamics between therapists and clients of differing sexual orientations, with Alther positing that shared human experiences, such as loss and empathy, can bridge those gaps. Through humor and poignancy, the novel ultimately emphasizes self-discovery, the importance of emotional resilience, and the potential for healing and connection.
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Subject Terms
Other Women by Lisa Alther
First published: 1984
The Work
The heroine of Other Women is trying to make her way through a midlife crisis with the help of a sympathetic counselor. Caroline Kelly is the single mother of two teenage children; she is divorced from a doctor and is confronting the wish of her lesbian partner for an end to their relationship. She has also become increasingly bothered by her work as an emergency room nurse. In desperation, and despite her mistrust of psychology generally, she seeks help from a therapist, Hannah Burke.
The bulk of the novel is devoted to showing the extent to which Caroline’s life has been influenced by her parents, professional do-gooders who devoted so much caring to people in need that they had no love left for their children. Their harshness shows itself even in their behavior toward Caroline’s children. Hannah Burke is also the product of a form of neglect and is therefore qualified to recognize Caroline’s problem and help her to deal with it.
Caroline’s identity problem also involves her love life. She had divorced her husband because of his neglect of her emotional needs and had found warmth as well as sexual fulfillment in a relationship with another woman. That relationship has foundered, however, because it has lost its spontaneity. Caroline finds herself tempted by another man, a doctor like her husband but apparently more sensitive. As the new relationship develops, however, she recognizes, with Hannah’s help, that it would only temporarily satisfy her need for security.
Caroline’s only salvation is to recognize what really matters to her and to determine to find strength within herself to set her own course in life. In the end she accepts her lesbian self while recognizing that her lesbian relationship is over. She recognizes that she can love her parents while realizing that they are inadequate human beings and that she must shield her children from them. She also determines to seek a different kind of work. The therapy has worked, and she and Hannah can proceed from being patient and therapist to being friends.
In Other Women, Lisa Alther deals with a subject of some controversy, the question of the ability of a heterosexual therapist, such as Hannah, to deal successfully with the problems of a gay client. Alther’s response to this is strongly affirmative. Hannah’s life experiences, including the deaths of two of her children, have made it possible for her to feel empathy for problems of people unlike herself. Alther’s approach to this problem, as to others, is leavened by humor.
Bibliography
Evans, Nancy. “Lives of Caroline.” The New York Times Book Review, November 11, 1984, 26. Points to a lack of humor and originality, but with praise for the characterization.
King, Francis. “Hannah and Caroline.” The Spectator 254, no. 8174 (March 9, 1985): 23. A friendly reading of Other Women, pointing out the solidity of Alther’s depiction of psychotherapy and lamenting the novel’s lack of humor.
Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. Review of Other Women, by Lisa Alther. The New York Times, December 10, 1984, C16. Takes issue with Alther’s negative depiction of the men in her heroine’s life and argues that the case for psychotherapy is overstated.
Oktenberg, Adrian. “Odd Couple.” New Directions for Women 14, no. 1 (January/February, 1985): 17-20. Regards Other Women as the most successful of Alther’s novels, praising it for its reverberations and accuracy in depicting a successful relationship between women.
Peel, Ellen. “Subject, Object, and the Alternation of First-and Third-Person Narration in Novels by Alther, Atwood, and Drabble.” Critique 30, no. 2 (1989): 107-122. Places Alther in the company of other distinguished women novelists and discusses the techniques of her fiction.