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Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:The extraordinary new novel from the acclaimed author of Bad Behavior and Two Girls, Fat and Thin, Veronica is about flesh and spirit, vanity, mortality, and mortal affection. Set mostly in Paris and Manhattan in the desperately glittering 1980s, it has the timeless depth and moral power of a fairy tale. As a teenager on the streets of San Francisco, Alison is discovered by a photographer and swept into the world of fashion-modeling in Paris and Rome. When her career crashes and a love affair ends disastrously, she moves to New York City to build a new life. There she meets Veronica??an older wisecracking eccentric with her own ideas about style, a proofreader who comes to work with a personal ??office kit? and a plaque that reads ??Still Anal After All These Years.? Improbably, the two women become friends. Their friendship will survive not only Alison??s reentry into the seductive nocturnal realm of fashion, but also Veronica??s terrible descent into the then-uncharted realm of AIDS. The memory of their friendship will continue to haunt Alison years later, when she, too, is aging and ill and is questioning the meaning of what she experienced and who she became during that time. Masterfully layering time and space, thought and sensation, Mary Gaitskill dazzles the reader with psychological insight and a mystical sense of the soul??s hurtling passage through the world. A novel unlike any other, Veronica is a tour de force about the fragility and mystery of human relationships, the failure of love, and love??s abiding power. It shines on every page with depth of… (more)
User reviews
Fortunately Gaitskill does not take us to the extreme edges of ugliness and beauty, but she plays them off against each other deftly. Allison is a model, prettier than most people,
Veronica, who has this nasty habit of hanging around with people who are not able to to be good to her, is not the spiritual equivalent hunchback of Notre Dame but between her pedestrian looks, AIDS, bisexual lovers, and Allison's love/disgust relationship with her, she is not a pretty site.
This is a disturbing book, but more because it prods us in places we would rather forget. When Alison takes Veronica to one of her high society parties, you feel the same sense of uneasiness at Veronica's presence as Allison does.
My only quibble is that is it written in bite sized chunks, and not all of them are that good.
Also, Carey gave it to me. Must read soon.
The story is told from the point of view of a
The main problem people on Amazon had with this book is that it's not told in any kind of linear way. It travels from present day, to 20 years ago, to 10 years ago and back to present day, sometimes in the span of a single page. Many people had trouble following it and I was a little concerned that I would as well, but I found it to flow beautifully. For me, the time jumping was the first successful attempt I've read at stream of consciousness writing.
In addition to the main character's story is the story of Veronica, a woman with AIDS, that the young protagonist befriends out of pity. In the parts of the books that are told when the MC is in her 40s, she's stunned by how she once looked upon Veronica, especially considering that they are now very similar people (though Veronica died 10+ years ago).
In summation, I found this book to be really interesting and to capture the fleetingness of youth very well, as well as the way that time can change the way we see ourselves and each other. I would recommend it to people who want a challenging read, as it does require your undivided attention.
I gave this book a good shot; I nearly reached half way. But I've done some reflection since my sister was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, and I've decided I don't have time to waste reading books I don't like, even if the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said it was "Full of viscous jewels. Nearly every page offers unexpectedly incandescent images that will linger long in the reader's mind" and The New York Observer said "Reading Mary Gaitskill is like having a flock of birds fly straight at your face: You recognize the beauty, but you still want to caver your eyes..."!
This one is not.
It has a fully disgusting opening description of the main character's
view of a canal near her apartment.
Boring and contrived dreams then alternate with a ton of depressing events.
60s cliches are introduced for
There's even the obligatory modern novel animal cruelty with a puppy.
Very disappointing.