The lives of two young women desperate to improve their lots are contrasted in a short, sharp, shockingly frank assessment of sexual politics and modern life: a story (first published in 1975 in Germany) by prize-winning Austrian writer Jelinek (Lust, etc.). Town girl Brigitte has her eye on the electrician Heinz, believing him to be her ticket out of drudgery as a piece-rate seamstress in an undergarment factory. Village girl Paula dreams initially of dressmaking as her way out but changes her tune when she sets eyes on dark, handsome woodcutter Erich. Both women set out to charm and claim their men, Brigitte with a bright tint in her hair and a steady diet of sex, Paula with rich food and drink and one quick roll in the hay. Heinz, however, intent on his future as a tradesman, proves reluctant to be more than Brigitte's stud, and she also feels competition from Susi, his more educated, wealthier, prettier acquaintance. Meanwhile, Erich, thought dull- witted by all but Paula, proves man enough to impregnate her the first time, but has more interest in motors and mopeds than marriage. The aging parents of both men also resist, since they don't want to share their future breadwinners with women they deem inferior. Eventually, though, both matches are made, when Brigitte finally gets pregnant, too, and Paula's asthmatic father suddenly dies. Unfortunately, by now both women have come to hate their mates. Still, Brigitte has the home and shop she always wanted, while Paula, becoming a prostitute, begins to earn money that Erich can't drink away, until she's discovered and loses everythingmarriage, family, and hope. The banal horrors of everyday life, and the layers of love and dreams, are dissected with savage indifference: a chilling but truthful vision of women's precarious position in a society still dominated by money and men.
Pub Date: July 1, 1995
ISBN: 1-85242-237-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Serpent’s Tail
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
A smooth blend of suspense and romance. As ever, the author's trademark effortless style keeps a complex plot moving without...
Megaselling Roberts (River's End, 1999, etc.) goes to Napa Valley for the tale of an Italian-American family wine producers rocked by scandal and a series of murders.
Dynasty head Tereza Giambelli knows that her granddaughter Sophia is the only family member capable of running a multimillion-dollar wine business—and no one contradicts La Signora. It's just as well the lovely young woman is still single: Tereza has plans for her. The matriarch has recently married Eli MacMillan, the American founder of another famous wine company. Eli's grandson Tyler knows everything there is to know about producing wine, from the vineyard to the vat. Ruggedly handsome, intelligent and earthy, he's a perfect match for public-relations whiz Sophia—or so thinks Tereza. The two young people begin to work together; Tyler teaches Sophia the fine art of making wine and making love. But other family members hope to claim their share of the Giambelli fortune, and people start dying mysteriously, including Sophia's good-for-nothing father, Tony Avano. Long divorced from long-suffering Pilar Giambelli, Tony led an opulent, self-indulgent life that provides plenty of murder suspects. He might have been killed by the mob, or a jealous mistress, or his spoiled brother-in-law, Tereza's lazy son, who's produced a passel of brats with his foolish Italian wife in the hopes of making Tereza happy. Everyone has a motive, and nothing is what it seems, Sophia discovers, but Tyler stands by her. Then a bottle of tainted merlot kills a company exec. A tragic mishap caused by poisonous plants growing near the vines? Or deliberate product tampering intended to destroy the company? Sophia and Tyler will need to delve even deeper into the convoluted and sometimes unsavory history of the family and its three-generation business.
A smooth blend of suspense and romance. As ever, the author's trademark effortless style keeps a complex plot moving without a hitch.Pub Date: March 19, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-14712-8
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2001
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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