Vivian’s Decision
Vivian Jacobson is beyond overwhelmed. The children of Russian Jewish immigrants, she and her loving husband, Mel, moved from Chicago with their family to a new house in suburban Wilmette, so people of her time—1956—may believe she’s achieved the pinnacle of American womanhood. But with four young children needing her undivided attention, Vivian’s completely frazzled. A solo homemaker six days a week, she’s left without transportation while Mel takes their Oldsmobile downtown to work at his family’s eatery. When Vivian learns she’s pregnant again, to her despair, Mel agrees to support her choice to seek an illegal abortion with a doctor her obstetrician recommends. The place is grimy, the provider sarcastic and rude, and Vivian’s too scared to proceed. Now what? She has a week to change her mind.
First-time novelist Leavitt draws us fully into Vivian’s daily life and emotional turmoil as she weighs this most painful of decisions. Alongside, we also see Vivian’s mother, Hannah Kolson, raising a large family in a small apartment in 1923 Chicago. Isolated as a non-English speaker, Hannah contends with a sexist husband who lays frequent claim to her body. She, too, has an unwanted pregnancy, a situation which Vivian gradually discovers. One of many very personal women’s stories, as we see in this compassionate and psychologically involving work, that exist but are rarely spoken about.
Vivian’s Decision is also delightfully full of Jewish wisdom, traditions, and immigrant history, from the classic Settlement Cook Book to a rabbi’s sensible advice. We see how much has changed between the ´20s and the more modern ´50s—wives no longer sit separate from their husbands in shul—but the importance of women’s freedoms remains constant, as it does today. This riveting novel about female friendship and agency is strongly recommended.
