3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Points of view, June 10, 2002
This review is from: Cook and the Carpenter: A Novel by the Carpenter (Cutting Edge: Lesbian Life & Literature) (Paperback)
In this partially autobiographical work, Arnold tells of a group of women (some lesbians, some not) who form a sort of commune to support each other, and then take the idea one step further by taking over an abandoned school to create a community center to help the poor and others in need. After a few days, the police invade the building and arrest some of the members, and then the city tears down the building. While this is going on, the carpenter and the cook (who are essentially leaders-by-default in the group) have a love affair that is muddled when a visiting revolutionary becomes the third party in a love triangle. Using non-gendered language (and an invented pronoun), "The Cook and the Carpenter" doesn't reveal the genders of the protagonists until towards the end, thereby making the reader think about sex roles and gender roles consciously while reading the story. While this is certainly challenging, it's worth it for this tale that also addresses how differing viewpoints can affect any relationship.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Challenges your ideas, June 5, 2007
This review is from: Cook and the Carpenter: A Novel by the Carpenter (Cutting Edge: Lesbian Life & Literature) (Paperback)
I read this a long while ago and thinking about it still makes me squirm. I had such a hard time with the non-gendered pronouns; drove me crazy! But it made me think about WHY that made me crazy and how this is such a good challenge to one's brain and thinking. Well worth reading, absolutely.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly original, October 28, 2006
This review is from: Cook and the Carpenter: A Novel by the Carpenter (Cutting Edge: Lesbian Life & Literature) (Paperback)
I bought this book because the author is recommended reading by Tee A. Corinne in her book `Dreams of the Woman Who Loved Sex'.
This is a don't miss book -
One tidbit - it is written with "na" for he/she and "nan" for his/her.
From the back of the book - In the 1960's and 1970's, women's liberation sought to transform every sector of U.S. society--its educational system, culture, language, politics, and, importantly, the delivery of social services. To enable this movement, women all over the country began to establish women's centers.
In New York City, women from almost every local women's liberation group took over an abandoned building in lower Manhattan on New Year's Eve, 1970. They named the building The Fifth Street Women's Building and renovated it to feed, clothe, shelter, and educate women in need. The take-over was a huge success, attracting hundreds of activists and community members. Thirteen days later, the New York City Tactical Police stormed the building, expelled the women, and ended the action. The City then tore the building down and built a parking lot on the site.
June Arnold was one of the original planners and an active participant in this episode. When she got out of jail, she went home and wrote this novel about what happened. The Cook and the Carpenter, which quickly gained fame for its use of a non- gendered language, remains one of the best representations of the time period that gave birth to modern feminism and paved the way for lesbian communities.
A classic, and perhaps, even the beginning of a new literature.--off our backs
Through sex and anger, through love, desire, loss of love, and conspiracy, through some of the realest encounters between parents and children ever written, the novel moves out in spirit to the reality of the `takeover.'--Village Voice
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