After Delores: A Novel (Paperback)

by Sarah Schulman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Schulman populates her hilarious, hard-core gay mystery with raunchy characters who stalk the streets of the East Village. When the lesbian narrator's girlfriend Delores defects to the bed and Tribeca loft of photographer Mary Sunshine, the unnamed narrator picks up a Priscilla Presley look-alike at a gay dance who leaves an address book and a gun in her lap, tempting her to take violent action. Later the ineffable Punkette, a part-time go-go dancer in Jersey with whom the narrator is infatuated, is found dead, and she becomes obsessed by the urge to find and shoot the killer, as well as with the desire to frighten Delores back to her bed by shooting Mary Sunshine. It becomes impossible for the narrator to get through yet another insane day of waiting tables at Herbie's greasy coffeeshop, where Herbie's mother expects the help to eat leftovers. The story is complicated and enriched by Coco, a Puerto Rican beautician who quotes Wallace Stevens and tells stories; by Charlotte and Beatriz, an older couple who might have been threatened by Charlotte's affair with Punkette and either of whom might have murdered her; and by Daniel, Beatriz's son, a part-time, street-level drug dealer who seems to know more than he lets on about Punkette. Somehow, our heroine gets through: she gets over Delores, and she takes care of Punkette's murderer; then she gets on with her life. Schulman, a wry and passionate writer with an excellent eye for detail and ear for dialogue, has written a thoroughly up-to-date novel that makes Bright Lights, Big City and Less Than Zero seem thin and dated.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Plume (May 30, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452262283
• ISBN-13: 978-0452262287
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,113,074 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #15 in

  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( S ) > Schulman, Sarah

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fast reading, but not the best I've read, December 23, 2003

By	Penny Duff (St. Petersburg, Florida) - See all my reviews

Some might find this little novel "hilarious". I found it mildly amusing and somewhat contrived. The heroine is believable only if you place her age in her early 20s. The characters are shallow, and the reader is left knowing almost nothing about them except their sexual orientation. This book was given to me. Having read it, I would not recommend it for purchase. There is a lot of excellent lesbian/gay fiction out there. Only when you've finished many of them--fiction and non-fiction--would I recommend picking up this volume.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars okay, September 29, 2005

By	boxtop "boxtop" (NYC, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After Delores: 2A Novel (Plume) (Hardcover)

I found this book okay but disappointing. The characters felt hollow and
not sympathetic or interesting. The action did not grip me,
and one of the sex scenes was a bit nauseating. I could not understand
why someone of such an interesting background as Schulman's would
write something so simple and way over the top with downtown "cool"
stereotypes. But there was a flow and rhythm, and maybe Schulman
has done better work afterwards.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read, a snapshot of a time and place with alot of feeling, December 8, 2008

By	Steven L. Solomon "Solo" (NY, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: After Delores: 2A Novel (Plume) (Hardcover)

This book made me love and respect Sarah Schulman forever!

This novel is a perfect memory of the old East Village as well as capturing 20's post breakup angst as well as exactly how it feels to work in a busy diner. And then it's kind of a noir-ish mystery. And the author's progressive politics are intertwined provocatively into the plot. Oh, and it's about being gay too.

Maybe this book & Schulman don't speak to everyone (judging from the other reviews here, which kind of egged me on to speak my piece).

Kinky Friedman wrote a spectacular review of After Delores for the NYT back when it was published, it's a complimentary piece of writing that should be included in some 20th year reisssue!

[...]