The Ages of Lulu [Paperback]

Almudena Grandes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 1994

Set in Madrid in the 1970s and '80s, this novel offers insights into female sexuality. At 15 Lulu is seduced by an older man. They marry and have a child, but at 30 she embarks on a series of sexual encounters which brings her into contact with low-life characters of all sexual inclinations.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in Madrid, this luridly inventive first novel strives to shock but instead proves that a woman's quasi-pornographic erotic fiction can be as mechanical, repetitive, graphic and cerebral as men's contribution to the genre. The story follows the sexual awakening of narrator Lulu, seduced at age 15 by an old family friend, Pablo, who poses as her guardian and then as her father, and who ultimately marries her. Echoes of Sade and The Story of O abound as Lulu has sex with her schoolmistress; enjoys a threesome with Pablo and a transvestite; obsessively beds homosexual men; is blindfolded, tied down and gang-raped; and then is raped by her brother Marcelo. Lulu's struggle to free herself of brutal, alcoholic Pablo's smothering grip, and her fitful concern for her small daughter, Ines, who seems utterly lost and insignificant amid the assorted sexual frenzies, are perfunctory plot elements in an overly busy narrative that reveals an almost fetishistic obsession with sadomasochism, bondage, oral sex, sodomy, depilation, masturbation, voyeurism and so forth.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This first-person narrative follows the modern sexual exploits of Lulu, beginning with her teenage sexual initiation with her brother's older friend Pablo and continuing up to her mid-thirties. Lulu, whose experiences seem to come from the pen of the Marquis de Sade, is totally obsessed and dominated by Pablo. Despite Pablo's compulsive involvement with young girls, they marry and have a daughter named Ines. Lulu seeks her own sexual gratification, which involves transvestites, prostitution, sodomy, and sadomasochism. A nightmarish party, orchestrated by Pablo, accompanied by a variety of violent and sadistic episodes concludes this debut work of erotica that comes from a world of fantasy where our present-day fear of AIDS and other diseases doesn't exist. Although Grandes's writing is serviceable, the plot is not very compelling, and the characterizations are shallow even by erotica standards. The pornographic descriptions may offend many readers. Not essential for most collections.
David A. Berona, Westbrook Coll. Lib., Portland, Me.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (November 10, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802133487
• ISBN-13: 978-0802133489
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,833,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well-written turnoff, March 1, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ages of Lulu (Paperback)

I ordered this book expecting a titillating read, and ended up enjoying it more as a well-written exposition of the obsessions of a rather unfortunate young woman.

Like Nabokov's _Lolita_, _The Ages of Lulu_ is often perceived as scandalous erotica, but in fact deals in a fairly pedestrian way with common forms of fetishism, especially sado-masochism and pedophilia (although the narrator is 15, hardly a little child, when she has her first experience). What is more interesting about the book, however, is the depiction of a woman who enjoys watching gay men having sex -- the flip-side, as she insightfully notes, of the much more common habit of men enjoying "lesbian" erotica. My own experience talking to real women makes me think that this kind of fetish is much more common than one might think, which makes the depiction of it in "Lulu" somewhat refreshing and novel.

Unlike some reviewers, I enjoyed the use of British English slang, which added an air of foreignness to the story -- entirely appropriate, since it takes place in Madrid. Ultimately, though, Lulu's self-destructive and selfish behavior, like that of the hero in _Lolita_, made me feel sorry for her and the people in her life (especially her neglected daughter), and the ending seemed abrupt and perfunctory, not well-thought-out at all. Perhaps Ms. Grandes was writing for a deadline. What prevents me from giving the book another star is the excessive use of erotic-lit cliches -- everything is swelling, bursting, exploding, over and over again, to the point where it sounds like a recipe, rather than a real experience.

So... if you're interested in a well-written fictional journal of female sexual obsession, I recommend this book. But if you're looking for an erousing piece of erotica, I can't say there's much in Lulu that will satisfy you.

To be fair, I am a 33-year-old male heterosexual with a conventional, liberal upbringing.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First introduction to erotica..., August 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ages of Lulu (Paperback)

I read this book several years ago while in high school. I found this book to be very refreshing, fun, erotic, and interesting. I related to some parts of Lulu's experiences, and that to me is incredible because it made it more vivid. As I read this book, I could mentally picture each scene as if it was a movie, I could imagine Lulu's expressions of her emotions, and the emotions and expressions of the other characters too. I really enjoyed this book, I've read it more than once and passed it along to my friends who also enjoyed it immensely.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally! Some decent erotica!, June 4, 2001

By 

"susie4eyes" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ages of Lulu (Paperback)

Perhaps my standards are low, but I've plowed through a fair bit of erotica, and this currently stands at the top of my list. More accessible that "Story of O" or "Justine" and less pedantic and plodding than any of Anne Rice's erotic writings, Grandes' work finally makes proper use of the power of words in conveying sexual imagery. The protagonist's sexual forays allow us to enjoy that element of sex so often ignored by most erotica and pornography: the tease, the suspense, the yearning, the quiet obsession. To tie it all together, Grandes provides readers with a poignant story of sexual birth and maturation, to give, as they say, a "plot" to all the naughtiness.