Status
Checked out
Publication
New York : Putnam, c1978.
Description
Fiction. Literature. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:With more than four million copies sold, Wifey is Judy Blume's hilarious, moving tale of a woman who trades in her conventional wifely duties for her wildest fantasies�??and learns a lot about life along the way.Sandy Pressman is a nice suburban wife whose boredom is getting the best of her. She could be making friends at the club, like her husband keeps encouraging her to do. Or working on her golf game. Or getting her hair done. But for some reason, these things don't interest her as much as the naked man on the motorcycle
User reviews
LibraryThing member Heather19
What to say about this book? I got it only because I remember sneaking and reading the "naughty" parts when I was a kid. I wanted to see how to rest of the book was.
The answer? Not all that great. Boring, actually. While the overall plot of a woman finding her identity and realizing she may not be
The answer? Not all that great. Boring, actually. While the overall plot of a woman finding her identity and realizing she may not be
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happy with her life could make for an interesting novel, it just didn't work here. Too many details on boring things that weren't relative to the main plot... Too many flashbacks that didn't add to the plot... After awhile it felt like this was just a book detailing day-to-day life, and it just didn't work. Show Less
LibraryThing member Amazon_books
This book was just plain horrible! Trashy is a nice word for it. If I could rate it a zero, I would.
LibraryThing member Omrythea
An exploration of a lackluster marriage, Blume delivers a great read.
A review...
Book Description
With more than four million copies sold, Wifey is Judy Blume's hilarious, moving tale of a woman who trades in her conventional wifely duties for her wildest fantasies-and learns a lot about life along
Sandy Pressman is a nice suburban wife whose boredom is getting the best of her. She could be making friends at the club, like her husband keeps encouraging her to do.
Or working on her golf game.
Or getting her hair done.
But for some reason, these things don't interest her as much as the naked man on the motorcycle...
A review...
Book Description
With more than four million copies sold, Wifey is Judy Blume's hilarious, moving tale of a woman who trades in her conventional wifely duties for her wildest fantasies-and learns a lot about life along
Show More
the way. Sandy Pressman is a nice suburban wife whose boredom is getting the best of her. She could be making friends at the club, like her husband keeps encouraging her to do.
Or working on her golf game.
Or getting her hair done.
But for some reason, these things don't interest her as much as the naked man on the motorcycle...
Show Less
LibraryThing member MsNikki
A novel detailing the mutual abandonment of affection of both parties in a marriage.
LibraryThing member sarah.rouse87
I did like the idea surrounding this book, but not really the book itself. I did enjoy reading about the every day struggles this women had and the hard choices she was trying to make. It was nice to see that the author had put in the thoughts (conscious and unconscious) of the main character but
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that just seemed to confuse me. By the end of the book I ended up disliking the main character even after beginning to know her history. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cherietta
I can just imagine bored 70's housewives reading this. . . OH MY!! Who needs porn when you have erotica like this? Shame-shame Judy Blume.
LibraryThing member LisMB
I was lucky to get my hands on a first edition. I didn't expect what it it, I've read Judy Blume of course and I knew this would be a grown up book, but was surprised by the content. Normally I skim over the adult content in books, but I read every word of this book. Read it in a day. Guess I do
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like the adult content.... Show Less
LibraryThing member Toast.x2
This book is amazing, astonishing, and pertinent to the conversations of suburban depression and women's studies..
I was raised in a bookish house on a wide variety of books, not limited to Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Louis Sachar, and varied Newbery Award winners.. They all held a place on my
A short list of Blume books: Tales of a fourth grade nothing; Super Fudge; Freckle Juice; Are you there God? It's me, Margaret; all of these children novels hold direct influence on my raising.
Queue a paradigm shift:
Many readers would be surprised to run across a copy of Judy Blume's Wifey. I found it, a beat up 1979 edition, on a shelf in a local thrift shop. It seemed to be a wasted opportunity not to purchase it for 99 cents. I had to purchase it and consume it. As it turns out, had I found this as a kid, I would have read it blindly and had some uncomfortable conversations with my mother. I am glad to have avoided this.
Wifey is described as an Adult Realism novel. I can see (now that I am aware of it) that the book can stand alone, thus it's 4+ million sales. It is strange though, I believe this book likely holds more value today than it did back when it was released. It is an unbiased time capsule.
The first page launches readers into a mental bomb field, with Saandy Pressman awaking on the first day with her children at camp, outside her window she sees a man masturbating nude and staring at her home. This was not sexy, it was not sensual, it was clinical and forced. With Pressman counting the strokes of his member before completion, she is flustered but not. This seems to hold solid as a theme throughout the book.
Pressman is slogging through life in a manic rut. She doesn't know who she is besides a wife and mother. Her young woman ambitions are dead, her children drive her crazy, she believes her husband is having an affair. All she wants to do is spend the summer reading some classic literature and hide from the world.. Instead, she spends months learning country club sports, having a couple affairs with people she knows, and effectively suffocating in the miasma of her world.
When I referenced the book as a time capsule, it was not flowered description. Some capsule artifacts are more disturbing than others.
- The descriptions of "safe sex" are hilariously out of date.
- Oral herpes are discussed as a common every day thing that people just live with rather than try to avoid.
- Sandy waffles back and forth on her love for her husband, often times when thinking about sex with him. Half of her memories of love making with him border on marital rape. They are disturbing.
- The Pressman family are pushing to sell their house to buy their "Last Home", but they cannot sell to a black family due to various social and family stigma. Mr Pressman has adopted a new word his mother created, to describe these folks so that he does not appear racist. This is a single instance of the character justified racism included in the book.
- The perspectives on drugs and plastic surgery are out there..
- Just about every woman in this novel is a model for why feminism's advance has been critical. Th things said to women, about women, and by women in this novel are a slap in the face at many points.
- Repeated masturbatory motorcycle sessions later and it has become common place and incredibly creepy. No one, not even the police feel that this is a concern worth more than cursory investigation. All her husband can ask is where the lawn has ruts in it... Yes, seriously.
- Women with out a man at their side have little perceived value. Sandy, like many women, is lodged in her world, stuck because she refuses to risk being alone.
I find the timing of this book's release interesting, wondering if Judy Blume's first divorce (mid seventies) may have been a direct influence in the deep depressive outlook and angst that is presented here.
Worth your time, but be prepared to push your jaw shut when it falls open on occasion.
--
RawBlurb description redux:
This book desperately needed a better description, even in 1979.
"Sandy Pressman is Mr. pressman's little Wifey. She has suffered from various neurological and viral issues since early in her marriage. It it all in her head, caused by crippling unhappiness.
Sandy spends her time wishing the conversations and fantasies in her mind were legit. She wishes for a more attentive lover, one who does not consciously abuse her emotions and intellect. She wishes for children who do not make her nerves quake, triggering levels of motherly detachment. She wishes for anything that is not her day to day. She is looking for escape. Sandy is caged and is desperate for someone to open the door and help her loose.
If none will, she will try to help herself.
This novel is a shocking look into the hidden perceptions of a housewife on the brink of destruction."
---
The Pocket Books 1979 edition of Wifey carries a short front and rear description-
Front description:
"The National Bestseller of a very nice housewife with a very dirty mind"
Rear description:
"Wifey is tired of chicken on Wednesdays and sex on Saturdays.
This morning the mysterious motorcycle flasher revealed himself to Wifey and brought her frustrations into rigid focus.
Wifey sees her wildest fantasies taking flight, and Wifey has an itchy-- and uncontrollable-- urge to catch up to them.WOW!"
---
Pages: 290
Published: Pocket Books (1979)
ISBN: 0671825157
--
xpost RawBlurb.com
I was raised in a bookish house on a wide variety of books, not limited to Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Louis Sachar, and varied Newbery Award winners.. They all held a place on my
Show More
shelves, some still survive today. Interestingly enough, when younger, I never considered these writers to be anything more than Children's authors. This is no slight against them, but just a signpost showing where their primary works have influenced me. A short list of Blume books: Tales of a fourth grade nothing; Super Fudge; Freckle Juice; Are you there God? It's me, Margaret; all of these children novels hold direct influence on my raising.
Queue a paradigm shift:
Many readers would be surprised to run across a copy of Judy Blume's Wifey. I found it, a beat up 1979 edition, on a shelf in a local thrift shop. It seemed to be a wasted opportunity not to purchase it for 99 cents. I had to purchase it and consume it. As it turns out, had I found this as a kid, I would have read it blindly and had some uncomfortable conversations with my mother. I am glad to have avoided this.
Wifey is described as an Adult Realism novel. I can see (now that I am aware of it) that the book can stand alone, thus it's 4+ million sales. It is strange though, I believe this book likely holds more value today than it did back when it was released. It is an unbiased time capsule.
The first page launches readers into a mental bomb field, with Saandy Pressman awaking on the first day with her children at camp, outside her window she sees a man masturbating nude and staring at her home. This was not sexy, it was not sensual, it was clinical and forced. With Pressman counting the strokes of his member before completion, she is flustered but not. This seems to hold solid as a theme throughout the book.
Pressman is slogging through life in a manic rut. She doesn't know who she is besides a wife and mother. Her young woman ambitions are dead, her children drive her crazy, she believes her husband is having an affair. All she wants to do is spend the summer reading some classic literature and hide from the world.. Instead, she spends months learning country club sports, having a couple affairs with people she knows, and effectively suffocating in the miasma of her world.
When I referenced the book as a time capsule, it was not flowered description. Some capsule artifacts are more disturbing than others.
- The descriptions of "safe sex" are hilariously out of date.
- Oral herpes are discussed as a common every day thing that people just live with rather than try to avoid.
- Sandy waffles back and forth on her love for her husband, often times when thinking about sex with him. Half of her memories of love making with him border on marital rape. They are disturbing.
- The Pressman family are pushing to sell their house to buy their "Last Home", but they cannot sell to a black family due to various social and family stigma. Mr Pressman has adopted a new word his mother created, to describe these folks so that he does not appear racist. This is a single instance of the character justified racism included in the book.
- The perspectives on drugs and plastic surgery are out there..
- Just about every woman in this novel is a model for why feminism's advance has been critical. Th things said to women, about women, and by women in this novel are a slap in the face at many points.
- Repeated masturbatory motorcycle sessions later and it has become common place and incredibly creepy. No one, not even the police feel that this is a concern worth more than cursory investigation. All her husband can ask is where the lawn has ruts in it... Yes, seriously.
- Women with out a man at their side have little perceived value. Sandy, like many women, is lodged in her world, stuck because she refuses to risk being alone.
I find the timing of this book's release interesting, wondering if Judy Blume's first divorce (mid seventies) may have been a direct influence in the deep depressive outlook and angst that is presented here.
Worth your time, but be prepared to push your jaw shut when it falls open on occasion.
--
RawBlurb description redux:
This book desperately needed a better description, even in 1979.
"Sandy Pressman is Mr. pressman's little Wifey. She has suffered from various neurological and viral issues since early in her marriage. It it all in her head, caused by crippling unhappiness.
Sandy spends her time wishing the conversations and fantasies in her mind were legit. She wishes for a more attentive lover, one who does not consciously abuse her emotions and intellect. She wishes for children who do not make her nerves quake, triggering levels of motherly detachment. She wishes for anything that is not her day to day. She is looking for escape. Sandy is caged and is desperate for someone to open the door and help her loose.
If none will, she will try to help herself.
This novel is a shocking look into the hidden perceptions of a housewife on the brink of destruction."
---
The Pocket Books 1979 edition of Wifey carries a short front and rear description-
Front description:
"The National Bestseller of a very nice housewife with a very dirty mind"
Rear description:
"Wifey is tired of chicken on Wednesdays and sex on Saturdays.
This morning the mysterious motorcycle flasher revealed himself to Wifey and brought her frustrations into rigid focus.
Wifey sees her wildest fantasies taking flight, and Wifey has an itchy-- and uncontrollable-- urge to catch up to them.WOW!"
---
Pages: 290
Published: Pocket Books (1979)
ISBN: 0671825157
--
xpost RawBlurb.com
Show Less
LibraryThing member MynTop
The ending left much to be desired for me.
Language
Original publication date
1978
Physical description
296 p.; 22 cm
ISBN
0399122419 / 9780399122415
Local notes
Fiction
Other editions
Wifey by Judy Blume (Hardcover)
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