Foreign Parts [Paperback]

Janice Galloway (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1995

Winner of the McVitie Prize and the Scottish Arts Council Book Award

When it was first published in Great Britain, Foreign Parts was described as "a road movie for feminists . . . a funny, sharp and gutsy portrayal of female friendship," and "a painstakingly crafted, multi-layered investigation of contemporary female experience." What begins as a driving holiday in Northern France for two Scotswomen turns into a caustic and funny account of dysfunctional relationshipsboth between men and women and between women friends. Cassie and Ronain their late thirties, both single and childlessare on each other's nerves from the moment they cross the Channel: Cassie is testy and cynical, Rona patient and plodding. Both are self-conscious of the fact that they seem to fit the stereotype of two "spinsters" linked by loneliness, and consequently rebel against the notion that a woman needs a man to feel "complete." Faced with the dilemma of "fancying men and not liking them very much," the women ponder alternatives as they endure one tourist nightmare after another.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From the beginning this novel's tension weaves warp and woof between hilarity and hell. Two women friends travel through France, encountering backroad-European misogynist crudities and the awkward experiences of being female, over thirty, with your teeth almost literally at your closest friend's throat, and "fancying men, but not liking them very much." Throughout Rona's random acts of innocent irritation and Cassie's caustic reactions, the funny and fumbled art of their compassion supersedes self-slaughter, stretches itself thin, but refuses to puncture, throughout years of pals together both on holiday and in troubled spirit.

From Publishers Weekly

"Cassie and Rona/Rona and Cassie have eaten sandwiches in Amsterdam and Gouda, Copenhagen, York, Warsaw, Munich and Lerwick... It's what we always do. We get no richer, no more sophisticated, no more included." Cassie and Rona, two 40-ish, single Scotswomen take a trip to France. Simple enough. But what Galloway uncovers through following their often hellish tour is the rawness of an individual out of context, the need for the familiar and the facts of friendship. Capturing the tawdriness and petty humiliations possible en route, Galloway's tumultuous, evocative prose is interrupted by the banal exhortations of a guide book ("Car drivers should NOT MISS the opportunity of driving through the beautiful, winding roads of the Layon Valley") and by Cassie's slide show as she describes photographs of past trips and the men who dominated them. Ultimately, however, travel is a backdrop for a sharp, funny, tender but never maudlin dissection of what it means to be friends. It's not that Rona and Cassie don't get on each others nerves, but there is equality, caring, everyday kindness, patience and loyalty that neither woman has found with men. "You only get the one shot at things and men use up too much energy," says Rona. "Dependencies build up, then the power games: the moral blackmail, the intellectual blackmail, the guilt, the guilt?it goes on forever."
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press; First American Edition edition (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564780821
• ISBN-13: 978-1564780829
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,674,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Janice Galloway is one of the UKs most distinctive and versatile authors. Her first novel (The Trick is to keep Breathing, now widely regarded as a Scottish contemporary classic) was shortlisted for three major prizes and won the MIND/Allan Lane Book of the Year. Her second novel, Foreign Parts, won both the McVitie's Prize and the American Academy of Arts and Letters EM Forster Award, while her third, Clara, won the Saltire in 2002. Collaborative texts include libretti, art installation texts, and four extended works with Anne Bevan, the Orcadian sculptor. Her latest book, This is not about Me, won the SAC non- fiction Book of the Year Award 2009. She has one husband and one son and lives in Lanarkshire, Scotland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars reading it right, January 10, 2000

By 

"fzmartins" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foreign Parts (Paperback)

A fan of Galloway's first book, I loved this even more. I am horrified to read that the only on-line review here is by a man who think this book is somehow a slight to him! It's not about men at all, it's a book about two women, and their thoughts on men occur as part of the narrative they have between themselves. That the two women have an exrtemely funny, leg-pulling as well as tender relationship with each-other doesn't seem to reach the over-sensitive British male reader, though it does reach the male reader with a sense of humour. It's not a "story" (go to the movies for those), it's a meditation about love, aging, what success might be, European identity and, above all, companionship. I have taught this book in high school (Brit Lit) as well as given it to friends and have yet to find a US male who doesn't find it a hoot (or who didn't learn something from it about the weaknesses and strengths of women alone). In short, it's a wonderful, thought-stuffed, gentle yet stimulating book that says it all about modern Scottish fiction. If Galloway isn't appreciated at home, maybe she should to the States!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delightful armchair vacation, August 29, 2000

By 

Rebecca J. Cook "rcook20" (tucson, az USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Foreign Parts (Paperback)

Although I can't say this was a totally knockout read, I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed traveling the French countryside with Cassie and Rona, the book's enormously likable female protagonists. Once I adjusted to Galloway's rather inventive literary style (no punctuation to denote dialogue, stream of consciousness narrative, loose spacing within sentences and paragraphs, etc.), I was off and running. Cassie's contrary and cynical nature is the perfect foil for Rona's perpetual Pollyanna personality, the clashes well illustrated in short vignettes and terse conversations that will leave the reader laughing out loud on occasion. Stopping at various French tourist attractions and sites along the way (many highlighted in hilarious travel book lingo within the text), the Scottish duo cope with rude male behavior, snarling dogs, decrepit hotel accomodations and their own dramatic mood swings. With a long history of taking "holidays" together, Cassie and Rona explore not just the unfamiliar terrain of the French countryside, but also the sometimes startling interior landscape of their own psyches. The resulting literary journey is well worth the reader's time, so sit back and enjoy the ride! This book is a wonderful testimony to the power of female friendship.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Friendship overcomes tensions and is superior to sexual love, June 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Foreign Parts (Paperback)

Galloway has been compared to Virginia Woolf and in the first few chapters of this novel is equally opaque. Where is the reader ? Who are these two women, which, if not both of them, is the psychiatric case ? Is there a horrible history hiding there ? In truth, the book rambles from scene to scene with a minimalist plot and is often tedious. It is enlightened by clever use of language, sharp observations and occasional humour. She makes frequentuse of metaphor - the frustrated boxer dog, the frog etc. - to demonstrate that men are shallow creatures and that women have better lives when they stick together. She laments the power of sexual attraction, however residual, that men still possess.

For a male reader it is a bleak read - are we that shallow ? - tarnished by generalisations which if written by a male writer (John Updike ?) would have led to cries of misogyny, but the book becomes stronger the longer it proceeds and in the end proves a worthwhile read.