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goblinscribe's review
dark
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
hrc's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
cate_with_a_c's review
2.0
I might give it another go later? But it’s very very dull. I know context wise it was one of the first morsels with queer tones but it’s skimming at the most.
yeahdeadslow's review
3.0
I actually own a physical copy of this book! It's from 1951! I've been too afraid to read it, though, since it's fragile. But the other week I was surprised and delighted to see this as one of the available titles on a local library's ebook resource. I had to check it out at once.
I'm glad I ended up reading the ebook, because there's an interview with the author at the end which was quite interesting. I was gratified to learn that the American publishers had made her give the narrator a judgmental tone when it came to... well, I think it was only for the lesbianism. Which was portrayed much as one would expect from this era. This is considered the first lesbian pulp, after all. Though the topic certainly doesn't take front seat. Much like the only other lesbian pulp I've read, The Girls in 3-B, there was plenty of tiresome heterosexuality, as well. Though Women's Barracks had a handful of bi and lesbian characters, it was kind of a quantity-not-quality situation The Girls in 3-B showed its lesbian relationship in a much more positive light.
Tereska Torrès mentions in the interview at the end that her actual war diaries had been published... but only in France. I'd love to read them, mais je lis seulement un peu français. Sigh.
I'm glad I ended up reading the ebook, because there's an interview with the author at the end which was quite interesting. I was gratified to learn that the American publishers had made her give the narrator a judgmental tone when it came to... well, I think it was only for the lesbianism. Which was portrayed much as one would expect from this era. This is considered the first lesbian pulp, after all. Though the topic certainly doesn't take front seat. Much like the only other lesbian pulp I've read, The Girls in 3-B, there was plenty of tiresome heterosexuality, as well. Though Women's Barracks had a handful of bi and lesbian characters, it was kind of a quantity-not-quality situation The Girls in 3-B showed its lesbian relationship in a much more positive light.
Tereska Torrès mentions in the interview at the end that her actual war diaries had been published... but only in France. I'd love to read them, mais je lis seulement un peu français. Sigh.
books_of_an_evening's review
3.0
The thing that struck me most about Women’s Barracks was how modern and dated it felt in equal measure. Modern in the sense that the setting, as the title suggests, exists away from the influence of men (all fighting in the war), a device that chick-lit has done to death in recent times eg. Sex and the City. Yet any hint of modern day sensibilities come crashing down with outmoded language. At times, comically to the modern reader, “gay” is used to mean “happy” but understandably stands out as an example of how language has changed. More jarring was the liberal use of “invert” as a descriptive term for lesbianism in the narrators more judgemental moments (this is explained by an interview with the author Torres. She clarifies that these lines were requested in the English translation as an attempt to appease any moral outrage that might arise from a book all about lesbians – Torres herself says she never held such disapproving views.)
While this 1950 book is undoubtedly ground breaking and laid the foundation for the pulp fiction that was to come it’s incredible how, from a modern point of view, the narrative conforms to the status quo. For example the main characters are heterosexual with bisexual sensibilities. The self-identifying lesbian in the novel are side players. I felt the love triangle between Ann, Petite and Lee could have been more at the forefront of the story, yet isn’t. This is perhaps a sign that this idea was to boundary pushing even in a novel that tested perception of lesbianism? Interestingly the heterosexual relationships within the story are played out in traditional fashion of this time, namely actions outside of the traditional are punished in some way. In other words pre-marital sex leads death, grief, suicides or unwanted pregnancies. The equilibrium is always restored.
Putting aside all these criticisms the book was written in 1950 where a sexual revolution was but a futuristic event. This novel should very much be read in that context, for that you should definitely read the foreword and afterword if you are reading the FEMME FATALES edition.
While I enjoyed the book, it was certainly far from perfect. That being said I will be seeking out more from the pulp genre.
While this 1950 book is undoubtedly ground breaking and laid the foundation for the pulp fiction that was to come it’s incredible how, from a modern point of view, the narrative conforms to the status quo. For example the main characters are heterosexual with bisexual sensibilities. The self-identifying lesbian in the novel are side players. I felt the love triangle between Ann, Petite and Lee could have been more at the forefront of the story, yet isn’t. This is perhaps a sign that this idea was to boundary pushing even in a novel that tested perception of lesbianism? Interestingly the heterosexual relationships within the story are played out in traditional fashion of this time, namely actions outside of the traditional are punished in some way. In other words pre-marital sex leads death, grief, suicides or unwanted pregnancies. The equilibrium is always restored.
Putting aside all these criticisms the book was written in 1950 where a sexual revolution was but a futuristic event. This novel should very much be read in that context, for that you should definitely read the foreword and afterword if you are reading the FEMME FATALES edition.
While I enjoyed the book, it was certainly far from perfect. That being said I will be seeking out more from the pulp genre.
corrie's review
4.0
Women's Barracks is the story of 5 young women who have escaped occupied France to join the Free French Army in London. Author Tereska Torrès gives a personal account of the daily lives of this diverse group of women as they live in the barracks on Down Street.
It is very much a product of its time and when it was published in the early 50ies it became quite the sensation. The modern reader will not bat an eye at what then was considered ‘shocking and immoral’, so don’t read it hoping for explicit scenes.
What I liked about it was the historical setting. How the French refugee women coped with life in war time London. The style of the book is heavy on the tell part. Maybe it’s because Torrès kept a diary (although she said she didn’t need it for reference because if was still fresh in her mind when she wrote it) but the narration felt somewhat disconnected. When I say it was a product of its time I meant that lesbian women were still seen as unnatural freaks and to be pitied. I felt that the (straight) author sounded somewhat preachy at times.
But in the back of the book was an interview from 2004 where it becomes apparent that the only way Torrès could get her book published at that time was if her narrative was changed up a bit.
”They were extremely worried about lawsuits over immorality and they felt it would make the book more “serious” if a girl soldier would have a sort of look at what goes on in a more moral vein. She would say, “Oh, I’m sorry. This is so bad. And this is so sad.” And, of course, I didn’t approve of this but Meyer wrote to me from New York to ask if I would mind if he added some narrative lines here and there to satisfy the publisher. And since he told me exactly how he would do it and since it really did not change the story, I said he could go ahead with it.”
She feels uncomfortable with the changes.
” I didn’t moralize at all. Today, I think the narrator is so untrue. She is supposed to be me and even her biography is not mine. She says she comes from a very bourgeois background; my family was a family of Polish Jewish artists who converted to Catholicism before I was born. And I was not allowed to tell my Jewish grandparents in Poland that I was a Catholic.”
Also her original manuscript was written in French and her husband (Meyer) wrote the English translation and started shopping it around in America while she was living in Paris. Even though the translation is literal and still true to the story I feel it suffered because of it.
f/f, m/f
Themes: World War II, London, the Blitz, French refugees, The Gaulle’s Army, boredom, sexual affairs, pregnancy, lesbian pulp.
4 stars
It is very much a product of its time and when it was published in the early 50ies it became quite the sensation. The modern reader will not bat an eye at what then was considered ‘shocking and immoral’, so don’t read it hoping for explicit scenes.
What I liked about it was the historical setting. How the French refugee women coped with life in war time London. The style of the book is heavy on the tell part. Maybe it’s because Torrès kept a diary (although she said she didn’t need it for reference because if was still fresh in her mind when she wrote it) but the narration felt somewhat disconnected. When I say it was a product of its time I meant that lesbian women were still seen as unnatural freaks and to be pitied. I felt that the (straight) author sounded somewhat preachy at times.
But in the back of the book was an interview from 2004 where it becomes apparent that the only way Torrès could get her book published at that time was if her narrative was changed up a bit.
”They were extremely worried about lawsuits over immorality and they felt it would make the book more “serious” if a girl soldier would have a sort of look at what goes on in a more moral vein. She would say, “Oh, I’m sorry. This is so bad. And this is so sad.” And, of course, I didn’t approve of this but Meyer wrote to me from New York to ask if I would mind if he added some narrative lines here and there to satisfy the publisher. And since he told me exactly how he would do it and since it really did not change the story, I said he could go ahead with it.”
She feels uncomfortable with the changes.
” I didn’t moralize at all. Today, I think the narrator is so untrue. She is supposed to be me and even her biography is not mine. She says she comes from a very bourgeois background; my family was a family of Polish Jewish artists who converted to Catholicism before I was born. And I was not allowed to tell my Jewish grandparents in Poland that I was a Catholic.”
Also her original manuscript was written in French and her husband (Meyer) wrote the English translation and started shopping it around in America while she was living in Paris. Even though the translation is literal and still true to the story I feel it suffered because of it.
f/f, m/f
Themes: World War II, London, the Blitz, French refugees, The Gaulle’s Army, boredom, sexual affairs, pregnancy, lesbian pulp.
4 stars
helmagnusdottir's review
2.0
Ugh. This book seemed to be a story of tawdry WW2 French solider women and their time together, but the man who translated it added a narrator who was shitty and homophobic, so, yup. Bad news. Folks read this for my lesbian book club and mostly hated it.
tregina's review
3.0
I was prepared to place this in historical context to appreciate it, but it turned out to be a solid story all on its own. Of course, the fates of some of the women were decreed by contemporary morality when it came to literature, but the interview with the author that was included in this edition addressed that, among other things. It was much more well-rounded, and tender, than I was expecting.
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