A Lot of Question Marks

I know we've moved on, and I just started reading March's book this morning, but I will feel guilty indefinitely if I don't comment on February's book.

I actually read Sarah in January, because I read it in 24 hours or less. That's how I am sometimes. I do things obsessively. Then I moved on to the second book in the series. I have not read the third book, because my little library doesn't have it. Anyway, that is neither here nor there. What I am trying to say is that I don't really remember much about Sarah. I liked the book. I remember that much, but beyond that it gets a little fuzzy.

I was left with an overall opinion of, and frustration with that era (which was already well-established after reading The Red Tent last summer), which is this: wasn't anyone, man or woman (but especially woman), ever allowed to just say what they thought? The way women had to tiptoe around their peers, their servants, and even their husbands (aren't spouses supposed to be the ONE person with whom we share EVERYthing?) made me want to scream! Is that really how life was back then? For some reason it makes me sad to think that it was. Maybe it's my inner hopeless romantic talking, but it doesn't seem like any woman was cherished and loved quite the way they should have been, if they ever had an iota of fear over being cast out because of something they said. Does that make sense? I am having a hard time putting my thoughts into words with this. I realize that it was a different culture in a different time, but to me love is love. Did love and devotion mean something less back then? I understand that a certain order had to be maintained, but what about in the privacy of the tent? Could husband and wife never speak honestly to one another without fear? Will I ever start a new paragraph, or will this one just go on and on into oblivion?

Does anyone else know what I'm trying to say, cause obviously I don't. I just find that when I read books that take place in "Bible" times, and become immersed in a female character (which I am bound to do - it's kind of scary, actually), I inevitably feel like I am suffocating. Am I the only one? Anyone?


Anyone???