Status
Available
Genres
Collection
Publication
New York : Poseidon Press, c1991.
Description
A story about two women, contrastingly different but powerfully drawn to one another. As their relationship develops, they reveal what lies beneath the surface of their suburban childhoods - violence, pain, intimacy, isolation, denial, fulfilment and the betrayal of love and innocence.
User reviews
LibraryThing member abirdman
This is a very good book, though some of it-- a sub-plot about some followers of the teachings of Ayn Rand, in particular-- I didn't understand or got too impatient to follow. Gaitskill renders troubled and intelligent young-adult women brilliantly. Parts of this book are extremely disturbing.
LibraryThing member ghostwire
Gaitskill's first novel is dense and dark and fiercely evocative. It depicts two very different yet similar women who eventually bond in a way neither one has experienced. Both have endured abusive childhoods, and are connected by their mutual interest in a once influential novelist. The story is
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simple enough, but Gaitskill's writing is sophisticated and precise; she has a talent for fully submerging her audience into the internal lives of her characters. This book is not for everybody, and I mean that in a good way. Show Less
LibraryThing member boredgames
did not know it was her first novel. well written in a heart stopping way at times, a bit tedious at others, uneven, shocking, kinky, dark, goes there, very mean-mouthed but thought provoking. it wasn't an easy read, it's a rough one, shot through with beauty and wry wisdom
LibraryThing member lindaspangler
dark psychological book. Well written but painful at times