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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
The themes break too much to the surface, serving themselves rather than the text, but the power of the language, the story, and the ideas is undeniable.
This is really wild and unexpected, provocative and thought-provoking. Yes, these adjectives suit it...
THE PASSION OF NEW EVE by ANGELA CARTER
You can probably tell from my recent reviews that I’m on an Angela mad one! She is something quite special, though, isn’t she?
This book is difficult to summarise and review so I’ll just list some thoughts and if any of them appeal to you, then I recommend you read this book.
If you liked these then you’ll like this:
- Orlando by Virginia Woolf
- the works of the Marquis de Sade
- The Rocky Horror Show
- the Bible (well, actually, if you liked the Bible as a religious text then maybe not...)
- The Odyssey (as long as you don’t mind it being some kind of sex and gender odyssey)
- bad movies from the 1960s
- surrealism
I think what I’m trying to say is that this book is more than the sum total of its 180 pages. It’s an exploration of gender and sex and life and death and birth and rebirth.
Carter’s brilliant prose will have your reading pace matching the action that is occurring on the page so that when there is a 50 page fighting scene, you will read it faster than the 20 pages trawl through the desert.
It wasn’t easy to read but it was worth it.
#angelacarter #thepassionofneweve #book #bookreview #bookrecommendations #bookstagram #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookblogger #booknerd #booksbooksbooks
You can probably tell from my recent reviews that I’m on an Angela mad one! She is something quite special, though, isn’t she?
This book is difficult to summarise and review so I’ll just list some thoughts and if any of them appeal to you, then I recommend you read this book.
If you liked these then you’ll like this:
- Orlando by Virginia Woolf
- the works of the Marquis de Sade
- The Rocky Horror Show
- the Bible (well, actually, if you liked the Bible as a religious text then maybe not...)
- The Odyssey (as long as you don’t mind it being some kind of sex and gender odyssey)
- bad movies from the 1960s
- surrealism
I think what I’m trying to say is that this book is more than the sum total of its 180 pages. It’s an exploration of gender and sex and life and death and birth and rebirth.
Carter’s brilliant prose will have your reading pace matching the action that is occurring on the page so that when there is a 50 page fighting scene, you will read it faster than the 20 pages trawl through the desert.
It wasn’t easy to read but it was worth it.
#angelacarter #thepassionofneweve #book #bookreview #bookrecommendations #bookstagram #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookblogger #booknerd #booksbooksbooks
"I know nothing. I am a tabula erasa, a blank sheet of paper, an unhatched egg. I have not yet become a woman, although I possess a woman's shape. Not a woman, no; both more and less than a real woman."
Like The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffmann , The Passion of New Eve is at times utterly offensive, crass and shocking, yet so dense and layered that it is hard not to admire Angela Carter's genius in this hellish vision of genderbending, misandrist desert cults and the destruction of society.
What I found especially interesting is how prescient Carter's insights on the representation of women in film are- some sections reminded me strongly of what Barbara Creed and Carol Clover would write on women in horror films more than a decade later.
Like The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffmann , The Passion of New Eve is at times utterly offensive, crass and shocking, yet so dense and layered that it is hard not to admire Angela Carter's genius in this hellish vision of genderbending, misandrist desert cults and the destruction of society.
What I found especially interesting is how prescient Carter's insights on the representation of women in film are- some sections reminded me strongly of what Barbara Creed and Carol Clover would write on women in horror films more than a decade later.
My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2018/05/25/review-the-passion-of-new-eve/
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As amazing and confusing as I expected. I would give this five stars but I honestly don't have a clue what happened at the end.
A perfect conversation with her essay The Sadeian Woman. In fact, this is in many ways what de Sade's work would look like as science-fiction (and if he could write as well as Carter). It really is a wonderful book.
In fact, I'd say it is one of the few books that truly reaches into what the speculative fiction genres are capable of: a discussion of symbols. Not an easy one-to-one allegory, no, but a complex, constantly question debate. And the symbolism is very complicated.
Mercifully, not complicated for complexity's sake, but because it gives its subject matter the full treatment that it needs. Despite its seeming brevity, the book packs a lot. Carter wastes not a word -- everything put within the pages belong. She might even be one of the only writers to truly use world-building to its fullest potential. Everything works in service of the ideas, and of the story.
For that is what Carter is, above all else: a master storyteller. The reading in here is easy, is constantly alluring. It works on all levels.
In fact, I'd say it is one of the few books that truly reaches into what the speculative fiction genres are capable of: a discussion of symbols. Not an easy one-to-one allegory, no, but a complex, constantly question debate. And the symbolism is very complicated.
Mercifully, not complicated for complexity's sake, but because it gives its subject matter the full treatment that it needs. Despite its seeming brevity, the book packs a lot. Carter wastes not a word -- everything put within the pages belong. She might even be one of the only writers to truly use world-building to its fullest potential. Everything works in service of the ideas, and of the story.
For that is what Carter is, above all else: a master storyteller. The reading in here is easy, is constantly alluring. It works on all levels.
My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2018/05/25/review-the-passion-of-new-eve/