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A review by theaurochs
The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
3.0
An exceptionally difficult book to review. It does contain Carter's typical incisive prose; but her delightful use of metaphor is here honed to the fine point of a baseball bat. Do you get it, yet? She asks, as she smashes your few remaining teeth out. How about now? Christ, I think that's my eye gone.
What we are treated to in The Passion of New Eve is an apocalyptic hellscape of America run wild at the height of the seventies. Race tensions lead to all-out war, as feminists and pretty much anyone else with a grudge to bear rise up to stake their claim. Sound like an interesting story? You bet it does- here it's our backdrop. The actual story focuses on Evelyn, a young British man who comes to America just as it all starts to go to shit. He has some vivid sexual encounters before running off into the desert to find himself. Instead, he ends up finding himself as herself as he is abducted, brainwashed (to somewhat less than perfect success) and operated on in order to turn him into The New Eve of the title. As a woman, he re-enters the world and is summarily abused, raped, kidnapped, all manner of horrors. Along the way there are as many vile characters as you can shake a... on second thoughts don't shake that, it's a bit too phallic. There's also a recurring obsession with an old movie star Tristessa de St Angelo, who does end up appearing later on.
It's difficult to read too much into the story- not really the purpose of the book to present a clear one as far as I understand it either. What it is doing is presenting damning views on perceptions of women in western culture. This is heavily dosed in second-wave feminism and cynicism about America. It's a weird and grotesque allegorical tale. The intense sexuality on display is so exquisitely and grimly described that it's about as far from erotic as it is possible to be.
But somehow all of these powerful elements just don't entire manage to come together. It could be that there is just too much grotesquery, rendering the final product unpalatable. It's a strong novel- it might have been an important novel, but it has the feel of an overblown short story. Strong ideas, stretched.
What we are treated to in The Passion of New Eve is an apocalyptic hellscape of America run wild at the height of the seventies. Race tensions lead to all-out war, as feminists and pretty much anyone else with a grudge to bear rise up to stake their claim. Sound like an interesting story? You bet it does- here it's our backdrop. The actual story focuses on Evelyn, a young British man who comes to America just as it all starts to go to shit. He has some vivid sexual encounters before running off into the desert to find himself. Instead, he ends up finding himself as herself as he is abducted, brainwashed (to somewhat less than perfect success) and operated on in order to turn him into The New Eve of the title. As a woman, he re-enters the world and is summarily abused, raped, kidnapped, all manner of horrors. Along the way there are as many vile characters as you can shake a... on second thoughts don't shake that, it's a bit too phallic. There's also a recurring obsession with an old movie star Tristessa de St Angelo, who does end up appearing later on.
It's difficult to read too much into the story- not really the purpose of the book to present a clear one as far as I understand it either. What it is doing is presenting damning views on perceptions of women in western culture. This is heavily dosed in second-wave feminism and cynicism about America. It's a weird and grotesque allegorical tale. The intense sexuality on display is so exquisitely and grimly described that it's about as far from erotic as it is possible to be.
But somehow all of these powerful elements just don't entire manage to come together. It could be that there is just too much grotesquery, rendering the final product unpalatable. It's a strong novel- it might have been an important novel, but it has the feel of an overblown short story. Strong ideas, stretched.