Born to a wealthy Pittsburgh family, Mary Cassatt spent most of her life in France, where she became the only American to exhibit with the Impressionists. The young woman in The Reader does not engage the viewer; rather, she is absorbed in her book. Reading had both positive and negative connotations for nineteenth-century women. While reading signified the privileges of literacy and abundant leisure time enjoyed by Cassatt and her social class, some considered it a frivolous pursuit.