When Alix Kates Shulman’s 1972 novel came out it was considered shocking and groundbreaking. It covered topics women coming of age in the mid-20th century weren’t supposed to talk about, let alone experience. These topics included premarital sex, adultery, abortion, and divorce. Though shocking over 50 years ago, Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen is thought in some circles to be a feminist classic. Intrigued, I decided to read Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen, and try to figure out why it’s so cherished among some readers.
Meet Sasha Davis. She is coming of age in Ohio during the 1950s and 1960s. She growing up in Ohio, and lives a very comfortable middle class suburb, and is beloved by her parents. For young Sasha, being beautiful and attracting a man is of utmost importance. Fortunately, she’s pretty and popular. She is at no loss finding suitors, and when she is crowned queen at the dance, Sasha feels she’s reached the the highest of heights.
After high school graduation, Sasha goes to college. Having lost her virginity to a high school boyfriend, Sasha has her fair share of lovers, including a much older and married professor. There are times Sasha acts as if the professor’s wife is a mere nuisance, not the one who is actually being cheated on.
Sasha marries her first husband, but marriage does not fulfill her in the way she wants and she cheats on him continuously. After their divorce, she marries once again, and on the surface things look great, especially after Sasha has two daughters and tries to play the contented housewife. But looks can be deceiving, and despite having a loving new husband and two healthy and happy little girls, you get the idea that something is amiss in Sasha’s life. And you wonder if this marriage will also end up in divorce, especially when Sasha’s best friend from college, Roxanne, leaves her husband (they “had” to get married because Roxanne was pregnant and it was still a time of shotgun weddings and legal abortions).
Sasha is no dummy. She’s educated and curious, and fortunately lives in New York City where she has access to museums, libraries and other intellectual pursuits. Still, being beautiful and having a man is of utmost importance to her, no matter how poorly some guy may treat her or how less than enthused she was by a lover.
For the most part, I liked Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen. Kates Shulman is a very detailed writer of a time I only know from history books and binge watching “Mad Man.” Kates Shulman is quite thorough of a time when women were only supposed to aspire to be devoted wives and mothers in pursuit of that perfect pot roast recipe. Things like divorce, pre-marital sex, adultery, STDs, and back alley abortions were talked about in hushed tones if at all. But all of these things are covered thoroughly in Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen. And though Sasha is quite the flawed protagonist and doesn’t seem to show a lot of growth from her teen years to her thirties, you can understand why this book was so damn shocking when it was released just over 50 years ago. Though I don’t think Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen is the feminist achievement some people have claimed it to be, I do think it’s an important book that captures a zeitgeist of some women of that time period.
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