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A review by cheekylaydee
The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
4.0
I finished this book yesterday but it's taken me this long to think about how to construct a review for it.
Now I don't know if any of you will have read Angela Carter. She's one of those writers that you're going to love or hate. She draws you into her own fantasy world which is still rooted in reality. It's the real world but it's a little off kilter and you have to just let it draw you in and go along for the ride.
The Passion of New Eve is based on the life altering experiences of Evelyn. He's an Englishman living in New York at a time of extreme revolutionary change. Depending on what side of the fence you're on it's either a time of revolution or a time of anarchy, especially for the feminists. However, Evelyn seems pretty oblivious to what's going on around him and he continues to do what he has always done. Indulging in women for his sexual gratification, and little else. For him it's all about the allure of feminine beauty and for him, because there is little else the effects are never long lasting. A typical example is his being lured by a woman of the night by the name of Leilah, then surplanting himself in her home, letting her pay for everything from the wages she earns from her body, and indulging in said body whenever the whim takes him. When Leilah becomes pregnant with his baby all the sexuakl attraction of her is gone for him and he sends her off to some back street butcher which she has payed for herself and subsequently heads off into the desert to either lose or find himself, whichever comes first.
The desert is where the life changing experience happens. aving run out of petrol and being stranded in the middle of nowhere it looks like Evelyn may end his days alone. That is until he is kidnapped by a group of extreme feminists who have made their headquarters in the desert. In this lair is where The Mother performs extreme surgery on him. Getting rid of his male appendage, creating a womb, female appendage and everything you can think of that is female. He is the New Eve.
This is where it gets a wee bit off kilter because it does seem like a fantastical thing to happen but there it is. A sex change so complete that a former man is able to have a menstrual cycle and eventually bear children? Go along for the rde!
As the new Eve Evelyn has been made into his own idea of perfect feminine beauty. As a woman he experiences all the things he has bestowed on women when he himself was a man. On his/her journeyings as a woman she experiences what it is like to be raped by a man. |to be treated as an object of sexual gratification at the bidding of men. To be treated as little more than an animal there for the convenience of men. She also briefly experiences what it is to be loved from a being who is very much like her new self.
Now I'm very much aware that Angela Carter is an out and out femininst and some of you may not find this book appealling in any way but for those of you that are fans of Angela Carter this is one you can't pass by. It will give you a fair few things to think on.
Now I don't know if any of you will have read Angela Carter. She's one of those writers that you're going to love or hate. She draws you into her own fantasy world which is still rooted in reality. It's the real world but it's a little off kilter and you have to just let it draw you in and go along for the ride.
The Passion of New Eve is based on the life altering experiences of Evelyn. He's an Englishman living in New York at a time of extreme revolutionary change. Depending on what side of the fence you're on it's either a time of revolution or a time of anarchy, especially for the feminists. However, Evelyn seems pretty oblivious to what's going on around him and he continues to do what he has always done. Indulging in women for his sexual gratification, and little else. For him it's all about the allure of feminine beauty and for him, because there is little else the effects are never long lasting. A typical example is his being lured by a woman of the night by the name of Leilah, then surplanting himself in her home, letting her pay for everything from the wages she earns from her body, and indulging in said body whenever the whim takes him. When Leilah becomes pregnant with his baby all the sexuakl attraction of her is gone for him and he sends her off to some back street butcher which she has payed for herself and subsequently heads off into the desert to either lose or find himself, whichever comes first.
The desert is where the life changing experience happens. aving run out of petrol and being stranded in the middle of nowhere it looks like Evelyn may end his days alone. That is until he is kidnapped by a group of extreme feminists who have made their headquarters in the desert. In this lair is where The Mother performs extreme surgery on him. Getting rid of his male appendage, creating a womb, female appendage and everything you can think of that is female. He is the New Eve.
This is where it gets a wee bit off kilter because it does seem like a fantastical thing to happen but there it is. A sex change so complete that a former man is able to have a menstrual cycle and eventually bear children? Go along for the rde!
As the new Eve Evelyn has been made into his own idea of perfect feminine beauty. As a woman he experiences all the things he has bestowed on women when he himself was a man. On his/her journeyings as a woman she experiences what it is like to be raped by a man. |to be treated as an object of sexual gratification at the bidding of men. To be treated as little more than an animal there for the convenience of men. She also briefly experiences what it is to be loved from a being who is very much like her new self.
Now I'm very much aware that Angela Carter is an out and out femininst and some of you may not find this book appealling in any way but for those of you that are fans of Angela Carter this is one you can't pass by. It will give you a fair few things to think on.