JayneB Reviews / Book Reviews1950s / 1960s / 1970s / Business woman / culture / Historical / Historical fiction / novelization / strong women / toysNo Comments
She was only eleven-and-a-half inches tall, but she would change the world.
When Ruth Handler walks into the boardroom of the toy company she co-founded and pitches her idea for a doll unlike any other, she knows what she’s setting in motion. It might just take the world a moment to catch up.
In 1956, the only dolls on the market for little girls let them pretend to be mothers. Ruth’s vision for a doll shaped like a grown woman and outfitted in an enviable wardrobe will let them dream they can be anything.
As Ruth assembles her team of creative rebels—head engineer Jack Ryan who hides his deepest secrets behind his genius and designers Charlotte Johnson and Stevie Klein, whose hopes and dreams rest on the success of Barbie’s fashion—she knows they’re working against a ticking clock to get this wild idea off the ground.
In the decades to come—through soaring heights and devastating personal lows, public scandals and private tensions— each of them will have to decide how tightly to hold on to their creation. Because Barbie has never been just a doll—she’s a legacy.
CW/TW – A whole lot of smoking, drinking and some drug taking occur. One MMC is a serial philanderer. One character has (and the older term is used) manic depression. One MFC gets breast cancer. Body image is discussed.
Dear Ms. Rosen,
I wasn’t sure how close to the truth this novel would be or even, to be honest, what the truth was supposed to be. Honestly I wasn’t sure and didn’t know and had never really thought who or what went into creating one of the world’s most iconic dolls. I will say that I never once held my Barbie dolls and thought, I want to look just like this doll when I grow up so no body image issues for me from Barbie. The third person, present tense writing makes the story come alive for me, putting me in the boardroom as Ruth fights the naysayers in order to give little girls a grown up doll that might fire their imaginations and give them something other than only motherhood to dream about.
From your author’s note information, I guess the truth about Barbie’s parentage will never be truly known as there are always two sides to any coin and the truth can shift based on who you ask. I think the book does a great job of taking readers into the heart of Mattel, the culture of the time and workplace, and the people who developed so many toys that were beloved of a certain age group (and I was one): Hot Wheels, Chatty Cathy, and not only Barbie but all her doll associates.
Ruth and Elliott Handler lived the rags to riches American Dream by starting Mattel, building it up, and then watching the company skyrocket. I, for one, am glad because I was never a baby doll fan. To me Barbie was just a play toy but maybe I was influenced in some way to go on to a professional career. I can understand what the novel shows of the the shifts in public sentiment about Barbie from “sleazy hussy,” to “every girl wants one,” to “look at all the careers Barbie does,” to “stop sexualizing women.”
The engineering details of how the developers managed to get a doll that fit their vision and how the clothes designers had to wrangle with 1/6 specifications for Barbie’s glamorous wardrobe are fascinating. I can see how working out the bugs and overcoming the speed bumps would lead to long days, late nights, and endless frustration.
Since this is telling a true story, the downward spiral of the last fourth of the book is sad but, I guess, inevitable. It did make me think of trashy dramas from the late 60s/70s. The SEC investigations were the accessories sold separately. By this point in the story, I kind of just wanted it all to be over. So a great start but a slightly depressing ending. B
~Jayne
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Jayne
Another long time reader who read romance novels in her teens, then took a long break before started back again about 25 years ago. She enjoys historical romance/fiction best, likes contemporaries, action- adventure and mysteries, will read suspense if there’s no TSTL characters and is currently reading more fantasy and SciFi.