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A review by rhodered
Illusion by Paula Volsky
2.0
Re-read after many years. I remember liking the rich details. They are still rich. What I didn't recall, and am sure I did not entirely realize at the time (which is both scary and emblematic of my generation's indoctrination) is HOW FRIKKIN SEXIST IT IS. Piles of lameness due to sexism... yet you can see the author struggling out from under them. Making feminist stabbing motions with her pen. Only to be toppled by the pile of sexism again.
This is the internalized misogyny my generation is still dealing with. And I suspect many of the women who are younger than us are as well.
The heroine is smart, educated, energetic and practical. She steps up to take action - against her bigoted father, against the most powerful man in court, against the most powerful man in the criminal underworld, against a despotic tyrant, etc - and each time she either fails and a man has to save her or only she succeeds in some passive, lucky manner.
Her role throughout the book is largely reduced to waiting. Literally sitting in rooms and waiting. While life goes on outside the window. Although she changes circumstances multiple times, including at book's end, her future will clearly consist of waiting again while other people take action.
Also, slut shaming - tons of it. One key female character is cast as an amoral, stupid, selfish person with no sense of elegance, love or class. She also doesn't mind having sex without love or marriage if it will save her life. However, our heroine refuses to have sex to save her own life. No! She would rather die!
I would love to talk with the author now and get her insights into how she's changed as she's grown and feminism has (hopefully) taken better hold. I'd love to know how she would write this story now. Bet it would be different.
The details and the prose though - well done.
This is the internalized misogyny my generation is still dealing with. And I suspect many of the women who are younger than us are as well.
The heroine is smart, educated, energetic and practical. She steps up to take action - against her bigoted father, against the most powerful man in court, against the most powerful man in the criminal underworld, against a despotic tyrant, etc - and each time she either fails and a man has to save her or only she succeeds in some passive, lucky manner.
Her role throughout the book is largely reduced to waiting. Literally sitting in rooms and waiting. While life goes on outside the window. Although she changes circumstances multiple times, including at book's end, her future will clearly consist of waiting again while other people take action.
Also, slut shaming - tons of it. One key female character is cast as an amoral, stupid, selfish person with no sense of elegance, love or class. She also doesn't mind having sex without love or marriage if it will save her life. However, our heroine refuses to have sex to save her own life. No! She would rather die!
I would love to talk with the author now and get her insights into how she's changed as she's grown and feminism has (hopefully) taken better hold. I'd love to know how she would write this story now. Bet it would be different.
The details and the prose though - well done.