Persephone Books discussion

Here we can discuss our thoughts/discussion questions on finishing 'Despised and Rejected' by Rose Allatini

I thought the ending was really abrupt and didn't really tie anything together!! Anyone else? And poor Antoinette...

Gina wrote: "I thought the ending was really abrupt and didn't really tie anything together!! Anyone else? And poor Antoinette..."
Hi Gina, hope you are well ?
I haven't got around to reading this one yet.

Hi Karen! :) Yes, I did enjoy reading this book...I just didn't care for the ending. We'll see if anyone else read this one also!

I agree the ending was abrupt but at the same time a tidy resolution didn't seem possible. The issues around war and pacifism were ongoing, the relationship between Dennis and Antoinette had no future. So I thought the ending was more a reflection of Antoinette's journey towards a political awakening.

Gina wrote: "I thought the ending was really abrupt and didn't really tie anything together!! Anyone else? And poor Antoinette..."

I saw this more as an issues-driven novel and the characters less convincing/rounded and more as vehicles for the messages Allatini wanted to get across. So, didn't really have any strong feelings about Antoinette or any of the other characters. But I did find it interesting as a depiction of WW1 England covering lesser-charted territory.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Two things that stood out for me were the incredibly cruel treatment of conscientious objectors and Allatini's attitudes towards men who decided to die by suicide rather than go to war. My image of conscientious objectors in WW1 was influenced by reading about Bloomsbury and David Garnett and Duncan Grant taking on farm work to exempt them from conscription. I hadn't realised that that wasn't how it was for everyone or that some people were kept in prison in solitary confinement and/or made to do hard labour. That was quite a revelation.

I was also struck by the fact that Allatini for all her radical perspectives on culture and society also seemed to have some curiously conventional views. The dismissal of men who died by suicide because they were terrified of being sent to battle was particularly striking. It seemed to be a reformulation of mainstream notions/expectations of masculinity. So okay to die for a cause of whatever kind but 'cowardice' the worst possible thing a man could display! I wondered if that emphasis was meant to counter the idea that pacifists were automatically cowards? The white feather campaign highlighted just how much the concept of so-called 'cowardice' was weaponised to pressure men to enlist, held up as something to loathe and despise. Did Allatini really feel that way too? Or did she want to find a way to distance those who had political/ethical reasons for refusing to serve from that possible grouping of 'weak-minded' men?

I also had questions about some of her creative decisions, the title reminded me of the famous aria from Handel's Messiah and alludes to the treatment of Christ in the period leading up to the crucifixion. Was Allatini drawing a direct comparison between Christian sacrifice/martyrdom and what happened to men like Alan and Dennis? And if so why? Did anyone have any sense of what she was doing?