Summer Reading: The Tortured Woman Series

When it comes to reading, I tend to read in themes. Strange themes. For a while I read nothing but gay, male, humour writers....David Sedaris, David Rakoff, Augusten Burroughs. Then when the "Julie and Julia" movie came out, I read everything that had to do with the trials and tribulations of French Cooking. (I highly, highly recommend My Life in Paris by Julia Child. It's absolutely wonderful.)

Five out of Five: If you like cooking, Paris, this is a
wonderful summer read.

Now it is Summer 2011, and what is my theme? Books whose women are tortured by the boredom of everyday life. Isn't that awful?!?! But that is running theme!


The first in this wonderful series on my shelf is "The Member of the Wedding" by Carson McCullers. If you haven't read "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," then I recommend it. In this book, a pre-teen becomes obsessed by her brother's wedding and wanting to leave her small Southern town life. It is a small book, a quick read, well-written but not necessarily fulfilling. What kept me interested is how much small town, southern life has changed in America: no televisions, segregation, men off to war, woman's place in the home, etc etc. You can imagine how quiet life really was and why this character was yearning to leave.

Next in the "Tortured Woman Series" is "The Wife's Tale" by Lori Lansens. The cover on this book must be the American cover....I quite like the hardcover, Canadian more. This is a story about a woman who has eaten herself out of life. Literally. You wouldn't get that from this cover would you?!?! Her husband leaves her and in doing so, she becomes aware that, "Hey, I am a fat pig and I took him for granted." I hated the main character in this book. I am so angry at her selfish stupidity. I wanted to smack her upside the head. Want to read something far better? Read Lansen's "The Girls," about conjoined twins living in a small Manitoba town (the same one the fat pig is from.) "The Girls" is awesome. Excellent summer read. Read it.


Third in the "Tortured Woman" series is "A Complicated Kindness" by Miriam Toews. This novel got a lot of hype in Canada and won a bunch of awards and I think it is recognized so much because of Toews childhood of actually growing up in a Mennonite community like her main character. Can you tell I didn't like this one either? Apparently it was supposed to be funny. I just found it really sad. The main character doesn't agree with the Mennonite religion, the lifestyle and she rebels against it.

Personally, I couldn't identify with her, as I didn't rebel by drinking, smoking, doing drugs in my teen years and this is how she acts out. And everything she rebels against doesn't help her or anyone around her. I suppose it is a coming of age story, much like "The Member of the Wedding," but I didn't feel any compassion for her.


Throughout all these novels, I have also been dabbling in "Isabella Blow: A Life in Fashion." I loved Isabella Blow and her fantastic, outrageous hats by Phillip Tracey, and wild Alexander McQueen clothes. She was a tortured soul, suffering from incredible bouts of depression. I hate to say it: this book makes....me....not...like....Isabella. (oh that is so hard to say!)

I will point out that this biography is horribly written. It is very obvious that the writer is a socialite and probably enjoyed jet-setting, digging the dirt on Isabella. Many of her stories are little quips - little bits and bobs from people told ten times over from those in the know. The author repeatedly talks about Isabella's money hardships and Isabella was absolutely horrible with money. She is vulgar. She is vain. She is horrible to men and coworkers and her husband and especially to her family. The author tries to make us feel pity for when poor Isabella is left out of her father's will. Hell! Had she had unlimited access to her family's bank account she would have bankrupt them without any thought!

I haven't finished "...A Life in Fashion" yet. I just get overwhelmed by the money discussions in the book and hope that Isabella had more depth to her than worrying about her cash flow or spending money.