Friday 2 April 2010

Two serious ladies (Bowles) 10

I spotted Two serious ladies on the bookshelves of a friend and as I hadn't ever heard of Jane Bowles and as it was a VMC that I hadn't read I asked her to lend it to me.

According to the blurb, Jane Bowles is a celebrated American literary figure, although she only actually wrote this one novel and a collection of short stories; she suffered a brain haemmorage in her 40s which prevented her from writing anything else.

This is a rather weird book. It deals with the stories of two women who undergo a decline into debauchery after becoming associated with a couple of eccentric personages. The first character is a spinster, called Christina Goering, who effectively becomes a high class call girl. The second serious lady is Frieda Copperfield, who on holiday with her husband, decides to leave him to associate with a prostitute. The stories remain separate, although running concurrently in the book, but the point is I suppose that they are going down a similar track.

It's essentially an absurd tale and not one that I really got into. 1*.

It's been published twice by Virago; my friend had the more recent edition (and I'm quite glad that it was only a loan!)

1 comment:

  1. Hmmm - this does sound quite a strange read! very appropriate front cover though - based on what you have written about it! Virago green spines had such well selected covers.

    Hannah

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