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"Harriet has left her boyfriend Claude, the French rat. At least that is how she prefers to frame the matter. In fact, after yet one more argument, Claude has just instructed Harriet to move out of his Greenwich Village apartment not that she has any intention of doing so. To the contrary, she will stay and exact her vengeance or such is her intention until Claude has her unceremoniously evicted. Still, though moved out, Harriet is not about to move on. Not in any way. Girlfriends circle around to give advice, but Harriet only takes offense, and you can understand why. Because mad and maddening as she may be, Harriet sees past the polite platitudes that everyone else is content to spout and live by. She is an unblinkered, unbuttoned, unrelenting, and above all bitingly funny prophetess of all that is wrong with women's lives and hearts until, in a surprise twist, she finds a savior in a dark room at the Chelsea Hotel."… (more)
User reviews
A lazy, self-grandizing, sociopath lives with a French
Don't read it. Save yourself the headache.
The end of the book is strange, I think, and I don't know what to make of it, quite. But we can recognize how lost Harriet is all the better for it.
She decides she isn't going anywhere
Then she gets locked out of the apartment
Harriet calls the locksmith and he breaks down the door and changes the locks
Claude, understandably, is furious when he
The cops break down the door, dragging Harriet along who tries to save face by telling Claude she's breaking up with him!
Harriet is an "independent" woman of the times. Her personality is very abrasive. She is highly opinionated and unrelenting. She rebuffs off her friends' useless platitudes. She is very aware about almost everything but herself.
So what happens to Harriet after Claude leaves her in the Chelsea Hotel circa 1970's New York?
She meets a cult leader.
After Claude was an interesting read. I was laughing throughout the novel but I will admit went through equal parts of liking and hating Harriet. I loved her unflinching opinions of the times of women, religion, and politics but then hated that she was very needy. Harriet needed that validation from others, mostly men, to feel something for herself. She couldn't live on her own as she got panic attacks during her first night there. It wasn't a surprise that she latched on so severely to a very creepy cult leader because he showed her a little love.
She decides she isn't going anywhere
Then she gets locked out of the apartment
Harriet calls the locksmith and he breaks down the door and changes the locks
Claude, understandably, is furious when he
The cops break down the door, dragging Harriet along who tries to save face by telling Claude she's breaking up with him!
Harriet is an "independent" woman of the times. Her personality is very abrasive. She is highly opinionated and unrelenting. She rebuffs off her friends' useless platitudes. She is very aware about almost everything but herself.
So what happens to Harriet after Claude leaves her in the Chelsea Hotel circa 1970's New York?
She meets a cult leader.
After Claude was an interesting read. I was laughing throughout the novel but I will admit went through equal parts of liking and hating Harriet. I loved her unflinching opinions of the times of women, religion, and politics but then hated that she was very needy. Harriet needed that validation from others, mostly men, to feel something for herself. She couldn't live on her own as she got panic attacks during her first night there. It wasn't a surprise that she latched on so severely to a very creepy cult leader because he showed her a little love.
The title, 'After Claude,' can be read in two ways (always a good sign
Sometimes the book is too clever for its own good, and Harriet's overbearing personality weighs a little heavy - but on its own terms I would say that the novel is a success. If you ever wondered what 'Portnoy's Complaint' would be like if it was written by a woman, you'd have 'After Claude.'
She decides she isn't going anywhere
Then she gets locked out of the apartment
Harriet calls the locksmith and he breaks down the door and changes the locks
Claude, understandably, is furious when he
The cops break down the door, dragging Harriet along who tries to save face by telling Claude she's breaking up with him!
Harriet is an "independent" woman of the times. Her personality is very abrasive. She is highly opinionated and unrelenting. She rebuffs off her friends' useless platitudes. She is very aware about almost everything but herself.
So what happens to Harriet after Claude leaves her in the Chelsea Hotel circa 1970's New York?
She meets a cult leader.
After Claude was an interesting read. I was laughing throughout the novel but I will admit went through equal parts of liking and hating Harriet. I loved her unflinching opinions of the times of women, religion, and politics but then hated that she was very needy. Harriet needed that validation from others, mostly men, to feel something for herself. She couldn't live on her own as she got panic attacks during her first night there. It wasn't a surprise that she latched on so severely to a very creepy cult leader because he showed her a little love.