---
product_id: 17028242
title: "Private Life"
brand: "jane smiley"
price: "10358 Ft"
currency: HUF
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 11
url: https://www.desertcart.hu/products/17028242-private-life
store_origin: HU
region: Hungary
---

# Private Life

**Brand:** jane smiley
**Price:** 10358 Ft
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Private Life by jane smiley
- **How much does it cost?** 10358 Ft with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hu](https://www.desertcart.hu/products/17028242-private-life)

## Best For

- jane smiley enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted jane smiley brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Description

Full description not available

## Images

![Private Life - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51pHdnj50KL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Another Mrs. Bridge?
  

*by S***E on Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2010*

I've just read the other reviews of Jane Smiley's newest book.  I feel like Dave from NYC and I are totally in synch.  I read everything JS writes and I always read right thru to the end and yet I often find myself saying "why am I doing this?"  No exception here.  While I "wait for" books by several of my favorite authors - I don't do that with Smiley. . .but, even if the book is a slow start, I am drawn in.  Private Life was such a book.  I felt like I was waiting for more to happen. . .and wondering where the "arc" of this book was going.  At my age, 66, reading about repressed,"private" wifes (lives!) is not news. . .I saw this woman in my mother and mothers of friends.  And I was reminded of "Mrs. Bridge" in several ways.  I'd have to say that it's just that Smiley's writing is a pleasure to read.  She wrote about a period of time I know less about - and now want to know more.  I have to say thisbook is nowhere near as compelling as "Thousand Acres" - to me, her best book. I will be eager to hear whatothers think as I still have questions about why this book held my interest.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    A marriage then...
  

*by F***K on Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2010*

I just finished Private Life and then read a number of reviews (not just on Amazon).  I am always struck by how contemporary readers judge women characters and their lives by current standards.  The amazing thing about Private Life is how beautifully Jane Smiley (as always) has depicted a woman whose sensibilities are far from our own.  Her main character is not entitled, she is not confident, she is obedient and has none of the brilliant expectations women have for their lives in our world.  But even as an entitled, educated woman who has and had my own brilliant expectations for my life, I found Margaret Mayfield Early's life poignant and full of meaning.  Maybe it is because I'm in my fifties and was married to a certain kind of workaholic, maybe because -- with all my self-assertion and my wonderful children and outgoing personality so different than Margaret's -- I have regrets like she does.  One theme of the negative reviews I just read is that she is too much of a milquetoast and her life is dull, but anyone who has run a household can tell you that the little things that make for contentment are not necessarily the stuff of action or excitement.  There's a passage in the book where Margaret follows the upbringing of some birds.  She is told constantly what ordinary birds they are and yet she is so moved by them.  No, not the stuff of summer blockbusters...  But just what it should have been.  My appreciation to Jane Smiley for taking me again to a world I could learn from.

### ⭐⭐⭐ 3.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Another Hyped-Up Work I Couldn't Finish
  

*by G***L on Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2014*

Attempted this because it was a selection of my book club.  Someone thought it would be a good idea to read something by Jane Smiley because she was a "famous" writer...oh, spare me.  I had reservations based on reviews I had read, but I made a valiant effort.The long prologue at the beginning served no purpose other than to confuse me.  It took place during WWII and involved a woman named Margaret who seemed from the writing to be a middle aged woman, at best.  Chapter one took me time-traveling to the 1890's and another woman named Margaret.  Yes, she was younger, but I had no inkling it could possibly be the same woman.  For a bit I wondered if she was an ancestor of the first.  I also had no sense of time or place, which I always find unsettling in a novel.  I don't need to know on the first page, but it's appreciated to have this information somewhat early on.I was not able to connect with any of the characters, with the exception of the wild-child, woman, Dora.  The rest were unfulfilled, unhappy people who moved through a dreary world.  I've since been told that all of Jane Smiley's books are like this.  I stopped reading just past the half-way point and don't care enough to ever pick it up again.

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*Product available on Desertcart Hungary*
*Store origin: HU*
*Last updated: 2026-02-12*