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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
This was so hard to rate, because it was every star possible. At one hand it was a five stars but it was also a confused two stars and a repulsive 1 stars. The story is by far the weirdest I've ever read and I somehow loved it but it was so strange and wasn't afraid the get bizarre and very uncomfortable. Don't know how to feel but I ended up giving it 4 stars
oops ik was vergeten dat ik kon lezen. anyway dit boek is INSANE!!!!!!!!!! als je iets zoekt wat beschaafd en subtiel is ga je het hier niet vinden dit is zo’n klap in je gezicht beide in schrijfstijl en plot je gaat gillen en krijsen periodt.
The fact it took me over a month to battle through this short book says it all really, disappointed to have not enjoyed it at all
I can't believe I am reading another Angela Carter book! I had to give this one a chance because some lovely book people recommended it to me, but it is very hard to take seriously writing in which the narrator says "the sculptural flare of her nostrils haunted my pubescent dreams." One of the only positive things I have to say is that this is extremely original. Never in my life have I read anything so outrageous. Here is the plot. Reader discretion advised...this one is a doozie.
Evelyn (an Englishman, apparently that can be a boy's name too??) moves to New York City-- a chaotic din of street fire, streaming bullets, casual rape, and hoards of rats that can devour a German Shepherd in minutes-- where he is seduced by Leilah, a sex-obsessed night club dancer. She gets pregnant and almost bleeds to death from a botched abortion. Evelyn flees NYC leaving Leilah with a bouquet of roses and sterility. He drives west to the desert and is kidnapped by a woman who takes him to an underground cult led by a woman-goddess with four breasts who rapes him. Then the she-cult castrate him and force a lengthy operation on him which completely transforms him into a woman "the new Eve" who they plan to then impregnated with his own semen (which had been kept in the deep freeze after the rape). Yikes!!! But it keeps going! Eve escapes only to fall in with a bizarre cult of 7 woman-animals and one impotent and crazed pig-loving man who routinely rapes all his women each night of the week (including Eve now, she gets Sundays). Zero, the cult leader, is obsessed with finding and killing Tristessa, a Hollywood actress that he confoundedly and illogically blames for his sterility. Well, they find Tristessa in a merry-go-round glass house in the desert and upon discovering that actually she is a man in drag, force Eve to have sex with her and they fall in love and run away. The cult dies horribly but then the two lovers find a new cult of children that murder Tristessa. Short-lived romance! Eve eventually ends up back with Leila who is actually the daughter of the multi-breasted mother-goddess and Eve has to crawl through the womb of the earth (what!??) And eventually sails away from America in a stolen boat, pregnant with Tristessa's baby. Get all that?
Obviously the "woman as object" concept is a huge theme throughout. As soon as Evelyn loses his manhood he loses all autonomy. He shifts from actualizer to victim for the majority of the book and plays a passive role in his/her fate. (Pronouns are so hard here! Sex and gender and identity just tumble and whirl unpredictably throughout the story!) Tristessa is the height of femininity not because of her lady parts (which she does not have) but because,
"She was a perfect woman; like the moon, she only gave reflected light."
Gorgeous line. But the poignant detail, and what I think Carter was in part trying to emphasize, is how Eve, though a victim, is a survivor. The female condition has historically been centered on pain, suffering, and the unflappable will to survive.
The title felt unexplained. The Passion of Jesus is about succumbing to the will of God, selflessness, sacrifice, walking resolutely to the cross and facing a grim fate. But in The Passion of New Eve, Evelyn flies screaming from the will of the Mother God on a sand-sled, constantly looks after his/her own self-interest, and stands by as others die (Leilah's unborn child, Tristessa, Zero's cult, the boys of the children cult, the suburbian man who killed his family). Sure, religious allegory abounds here, but I don't think that justifies the title.
Speaking of things unexplained, this book does not ever attempt to give background on the total collapse of civilization. Carter uses it purely as setting for her feminist agenda. Which is fine, just not my cup of tea.
Evelyn (an Englishman, apparently that can be a boy's name too??) moves to New York City-- a chaotic din of street fire, streaming bullets, casual rape, and hoards of rats that can devour a German Shepherd in minutes-- where he is seduced by Leilah, a sex-obsessed night club dancer. She gets pregnant and almost bleeds to death from a botched abortion. Evelyn flees NYC leaving Leilah with a bouquet of roses and sterility. He drives west to the desert and is kidnapped by a woman who takes him to an underground cult led by a woman-goddess with four breasts who rapes him. Then the she-cult castrate him and force a lengthy operation on him which completely transforms him into a woman "the new Eve" who they plan to then impregnated with his own semen (which had been kept in the deep freeze after the rape). Yikes!!! But it keeps going! Eve escapes only to fall in with a bizarre cult of 7 woman-animals and one impotent and crazed pig-loving man who routinely rapes all his women each night of the week (including Eve now, she gets Sundays). Zero, the cult leader, is obsessed with finding and killing Tristessa, a Hollywood actress that he confoundedly and illogically blames for his sterility. Well, they find Tristessa in a merry-go-round glass house in the desert and upon discovering that actually she is a man in drag, force Eve to have sex with her and they fall in love and run away. The cult dies horribly but then the two lovers find a new cult of children that murder Tristessa. Short-lived romance! Eve eventually ends up back with Leila who is actually the daughter of the multi-breasted mother-goddess and Eve has to crawl through the womb of the earth (what!??) And eventually sails away from America in a stolen boat, pregnant with Tristessa's baby. Get all that?
Obviously the "woman as object" concept is a huge theme throughout. As soon as Evelyn loses his manhood he loses all autonomy. He shifts from actualizer to victim for the majority of the book and plays a passive role in his/her fate. (Pronouns are so hard here! Sex and gender and identity just tumble and whirl unpredictably throughout the story!) Tristessa is the height of femininity not because of her lady parts (which she does not have) but because,
"She was a perfect woman; like the moon, she only gave reflected light."
Gorgeous line. But the poignant detail, and what I think Carter was in part trying to emphasize, is how Eve, though a victim, is a survivor. The female condition has historically been centered on pain, suffering, and the unflappable will to survive.
The title felt unexplained. The Passion of Jesus is about succumbing to the will of God, selflessness, sacrifice, walking resolutely to the cross and facing a grim fate. But in The Passion of New Eve, Evelyn flies screaming from the will of the Mother God on a sand-sled, constantly looks after his/her own self-interest, and stands by as others die (Leilah's unborn child, Tristessa, Zero's cult, the boys of the children cult, the suburbian man who killed his family). Sure, religious allegory abounds here, but I don't think that justifies the title.
Speaking of things unexplained, this book does not ever attempt to give background on the total collapse of civilization. Carter uses it purely as setting for her feminist agenda. Which is fine, just not my cup of tea.
Not my choice, but picked for book club. I've read Carter before (The Bloody Chamber) and hoped this would be similar. I was disappointed in that regard! This is a book of Ideas and Symbols and Allusions to Classical Mythology. The characters are just sketches and the plot follows a vague path. I found Carter's writing to be almost purple, as well. I pretty much hated it. But, there is definitely a lot to discuss in it, so hopefully the book club will make this slog worth it!
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated