THE GASTEROPOD

by Maggie Ross ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 9, 1969

This is one of those cryptogrammic curiosa about a collector as lifeless as one of his specimens: he presses plants, pickles insects and preserves shells all in an attempt to defy age, time, death. The taxidermist is also a recording voyeur using a camera with which he pinions the activities of his household: his venal if once beautiful wife Dorothea; her homosexual brother James; and an acquired intercessor, Max, a dress designer, whom he supports and who is also active in various phases with both Dorothea and James. Miss Ross writes well enough, with just a whiff of formalin, to convey the attenuated decadence of these people on whom she has misapplied her skills; but the gasteropod, calcified in his delaying action against life, may find that he has put others to rest before the terminus of the book.

Pub Date: May 9, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1969

Categories: FICTION