Godmother Night: A Novel [Hardcover]

Rachel Pollack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996

In a world that exists on the back of a giant turtle, two lovers named Laurie and Jaqe find themselves separated by an elderly woman named Mother Night, who is literally death, and her five red haired, leather-clad bikers.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Almost a set of short stories, this novel breaks into discrete episodes, centered on identity, love, and death. Jaqe has no identity until she meets Laurie, introduced and named by Mother Night; in that moment, she knows herself, and that she loves Laurie. But once Mother Night has become part of their lives, Laurie and Jaqe and their daughter Kate cannot live as other people do. Knowing Death, inevitably each of them seeks to use the knowledge, to bargain with Death, and to change the terms in the balance of life and death in the world.

Pollack's characters, major and supporting, living, dead, and divine, are memorably human. As she transplants myths and folklore into a modern setting, she gives new life to old tales and a deeper meaning to a seemingly simple world.

From Publishers Weekly

Departing from the future society she traced in Unquenchable Fire and Temporary Agency (a Nebula Award finalist), Pollack imagines with flair a fantasy world sprawled across the back of a giant turtle. At a dance at a college in a city "in the eastern part of the turtle, not far from the sea," two young women, Laurie and Jaqe, meet and fall in love. They also meet Mother Night, who helps the couple cope with the obstacles strewn across their path by family and society. An older, redheaded woman who rides around on a motorcycle, surrounded by a crew of younger, similarly carrot-topped women, Mother Night is in fact Death. While she helps Laurie and Jaqe in their quest for peace and justice, she also brings about the early demise of one of the lovers, shortly after a baby daughter is born. Mother Night becomes a true godmother to this child, watching over her and disclosing to her secrets of the departed. Pollack's fairy-tale plot is resourceful and original, but here, as in her earlier fiction, the emphasis is on character as she portrays women's intimate relationships with one another with resonance and realism. This is another fine outing by one of the most gifted and sensitive fantasists working today.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 355 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031214606X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312146061
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,044,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beyond Orpheus..between Eros, Thanatos & the self, April 12, 2000

By 

Paula Gabrielle (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Godmother Night: A Novel (Hardcover)

Godmother Night is now one of my favourite books & it's the most moving book I have read since Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. It's seemingly influenced by both the myth of Orpheus & Cocteau's film, Orphee, which also features a well-dressed woman who is literally death & is attended by motorcyclists. Readers interested in feminist, "women's" or lesbian fiction, as well as those attracted by magickal realism, pagan related fantasy & fairy tales, or just about anyone who loves brilliantly crafted & eloquently written books will not be disappointed. The love affair between Laurie & Jaqe is highly believable & I could strongly relate to their relationship & to the problems that Laurie encounters with her academic studies, it was like seeing parts of my life & aspects of myself on the page. At points I found the book distressing which only added to its power, it takes on serious issues from "life" & beyond. Though I already had some of the comics she has written (The Geek & Doom Patrol), the Vertigo Tarot book, & The Body of the Goddess, (which are of an equal standard to Godmother Night!) this book propelled me onto a quest to read more of her work. Prepare for an intense love affair with this author's work! It's a must read that has left me urgently needing MORE Rachel Pollack books.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For any age, for any gender, for any love, for any PERSON, February 13, 2004

By 

spice is nice (oc, ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Godmother Night: A Novel (Hardcover)

Rachel Pollack has left me completely smitten. Smitten with Laurie, with Jaqe, Kate, and Godmother Night. I didn't want the story to end. She had me nervous, laughing, crying, anticipating. It's a story about love. Love that any reader can understand, in a very universal form. It's a story of high imagination, and vivid details. I could not put this book down. I have since recommended this book to 2 people who have also completely fallen in love with it. This is by far, the #1 on my lists of favorites. It is so beautifully written, and I have never had a book pull me in the way this book has. Thank you Rachel for your gift, without this book, I'd be missing out on something so damn good.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transcendant. Extraordinary. Beautiful., January 22, 2008

By 

A.W. "Dilettante" (PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Godmother Night: A Novel (Hardcover)

I read Godmother Night years ago, and it still creeps into my thoughts often. This book gave me chills and tears and those strange aha! moments when I felt like the story made me understand joy better.

I love how this book worked on several levels simultaneously. The love relationships (lovers, parents, friends) are heartbreakingly real and believable. The overlaying mystical/fantastical elements are like beautiful poetry: true as any truth, but dwelling outside the mundane. The layers lay together like an unfolding rose, impossibly perfect, impossibly beautiful. After Godmother Night, other love stories seem shallow and banal.

This is my favorite book of all time.