Customer Reviews

Looking for Mr. Goodbar

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This was a disturbing book in many ways--not because of the subjectmatter or the storytelling, but because it reaches out to anyone who reads it, forcing them to confront their darker, hidden sides. As the story begins, Theresa Dunn is a 10-year-old child who comes from a large Irish Catholic family and frequently gets overlooked. The degree to which her parents pay her little attention while lavishing affection on her older sister, Katherine, is shocking, because Theresa's spine curvature could have been corrected immediately had they noticed. This, of course, adds to Theresa's self-loathing and her feeling that she is insignificant. The operation is a success, but Theresa is not quite the same. Katherine gets emotional and tells Theresa that she looked like she "came back from the dead". Theresa also has a slight limp to show for it, a constant reminder of her unimportance. From this point on, anyone who makes a reference to Theresa's limp, however casual, is basically striking Theresa in her most vulnerable place. Her failure to come to terms with her self-loathing eventually will lead to far more trouble in the future.

Theresa is still very much the good Catholic girl, however, and she still loves children. Her decision to become an elementary school teacher allows her to temporarily step into the role of "Mother" (nurturer) and "Father" (educator), to be simultaneously the parents she wished she had. It is during her college years that she meets Martin Engle, a sardonic English professor who will have a profound effect on her already shaky self-image. Martin is married, but he is still very much adored by his female students, and he does nothing to overtly discourage them. Theresa soon finds herself the object of Martin's affection, although he teases her for having such a "serious Catholic girl" personality. Rossner includes a number of vivid images in this section; for instance, Theresa, about to be seduced by Martin, watches coffee dripping from the coffee-maker, looking like brown mud. Their affair lasts for four years, until one day when Martin casually shrugs her off. She is simply another fling to him; he openly informs her that he will probably have another one by this summer. Theresa goes into a deep depression and again, comes out of it permanently altered. Now she is "soiled goods" in every sense of the word, and as her casual alter ego "Terry", she begins to behave recklessly, seducing strangers and bringing them to her apartment at night. During school hours with the children, however, she is still very much "Theresa", the "good" Catholic girl who lavishes affection on her students.

The "Mr. Goodbar" of the title is simply the name of one of Terry's haunts. Her double life is two such extreme opposites, that on the rare occasions when one element appears in another, it often leads to disaster. For instance, she meets a "nice" gentleman, James, who turns her off sexually, but who is comforting because of his unconditional love for her. This, of course, is beyond Theresa's comprehension, and in her perverse way, she often strives to push him away by acting "hard", swearing too much and being sardonic in much the same way as Martin. It is during one of these phases that Theresa attends a wedding in a "slutty" black dress that "Terry" would wear. At the sight of James' mother, Theresa is suddenly filled with shame, to the point where she feels physically ill. Likewise, with her "regulars", she is careful not to let them intrude into her "other life"; after sex, she immediately demands that they leave.

The most painful aspect of reading the book is the loneliness Theresa experiences. She has no close friends, her parents are remote and distant, and her older sister is flighty and cannot be depended on. Theresa's life is a dark abyss that she gradually sinks into, and she is a tortured, conflicted woman to the end. This can be a very depressing story, in spite of the vivid sexual imagery. Living in Theresa's skin is like going to a wild party every night, only to wake up with a horrendous hangover the next morning. The late 60's sensibilities are very much in evidence here, also; none of the so-called "peace and love" generation are any more successful at intimacy and committment than Theresa. James is a symbol of a more noble, idealistic time, when "old-fashioned" values like honesty and chivalry were treasured. Theresa herself is symbolic of people's best and worst selves; the tragedy is that the worst will often win out.

It's the 1970's and the world has lived through the sixties and exploded into a one big wild and careless party. The vestiges of responsibility and family begin to tear and no where is it better illustrated than in depicting the life of Theresa. Theresa is a lonely single girl, teaching underprivledged kids during the day and cruising the bar scene looking for love after dark. Living in the shadow of her seemingly fabulous sister, Theresa born the shame of spine curvature (eventually corrected by surgery), the indifference of her parents, lack of friends, and the pain of empty love relationships. Theresa during the day, Terry is her night time persona who takes the young teacher to levels she never dreamed off as the story unfolds. Theresa is at odds with the good girl vs. bad girl images and yet is spurned by physical pleasure and the thought of a lasting and pleasurable relationship. The book's end is shocking and inevitable as Theresa looks for love in all the wrong places. A cautionary tale which rings true today, a copy should be given to every Washington intern.

Theresa is a teacher by day, and a bar cruiser by night. It's the seventies, and everybody's doing it, and as often as they can. I first read Goodbar a few years ago and have read it a total of 5 times since. It's a haunting story, one that gets into your blood and won't let go of your concious thoughts for days after finishing it. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading about the inner turmoil women face when confronted with situations where their sexuality faces off with their morality. I would also like to point out that the film based on this book and of the same title confronts the issues of sexual independence with stark and vivid imagery. I would recommend reading the book, though, before seeing the film as the book delivers a real kick to the theoretical groin while the movie doesn't delve as deeply into the mind, the heart and motivation of its main character.

Judith Rossner, Looking for Mr. Goodbar (Washington Square Press, 1975)

Looking for Mr. Goodbar was an unconscionably shocking novel when it appeared in 1975. It was still shocking when Richard Brooks turned it into a devastating film featuring rising stars Richard Gere, Tom Berenger, and William Atherton as the three most important men in Diane Keaton's life. Now, here we are thirty years later. The scene Rossner set isn't shocking. But in some ways, her treatment of it is, and this is why Looking for Mr. Goodbar is still in print, three decades after its original release.

Theresa Dunn, we learn on the first page, is dead. She was killed by a guy she picked up in a bar a few hours beforehand (leading to Rex Reed's famous, and utterly inaccurate, statement "this is the story of what happens to Theresa in bars."). We go from police report to said guy's statement, which is equal parts amusing and chilling. Then the rest of the novel's three hundred ninety pages gives us Theresa's story as it leads up to her murder.

Despite Reed's tantalizing review, Theresa Dunn is not the kind of barhopper one might find in a bad seventies softcore movie. In fact, she spends not much time at all in bars themselves. (Mr. Goodbar, the name of the bar where she picks up the guy who kills her, is only mentioned by name twice in Theresa's portion of the story, if I recall correctly.) The novel actually focuses on Theresa's relationships, and how they contribute to the novel's outcome-- first with one of her college professors, and then conflicting, simultaneous relationships with two men, the macho and aggressive Tony and calm, staid James, as Theresa tries to figure out who she really is and what she wants from life.

Rossner approaches her subject matter in a frank, matter-of-fact tone. Thirty years on, it's not the sex that's shocking, nor the idea of having it casually; we've seen it all a thousand times before. It's small offhand comments about tangential topics, or terminology (none of which, of course, is capable of being used in an Amazon review), that are still a shock to the system. Reading it, you realize that not all of the boundaries we pushed in books in the seventies were eventually broken; some of them rebounded.

But all that aside, what's it like as a book? Well, it's readable, and a relatively quick novel; Rossner does know how to keep the pages turning. I'm not sure whether she had literary aspirations with this novel (and, to be honest, I'm not sure whether she achieved them, though being re-released by Washington Square Press in 1995 certainly lends the novel an air of credibility in that regard), but it's certainly two or three rungs above your garden-variety genre potboiler or Beeline novel. Rossner's characters are deep, rich constructions, even when they border on the stereotypical (Theresa's sister Katherine and her husband are clinging-to-the-sixties free love poster children, better for a laugh these days than anything else), and the situations in which they find themselves are grimly realistic. Rossner wrote herself a fine novel, and one that deserves to be rediscovered by a new generation. *** ½

Judith Rossner's warning in her novel to take a flashlight when we visit the darkest corners of sexual experimentation is forever relevant. "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" (the title not a character but a pick-up bar) gives us a Catholic teacher of deaf children who, after dark, takes on a truly dark character and sets out on the bar scene looking for sex and, maybe if she's lucky, love. But the search for both is strewn with broken hearts, disappointments and dangers, as Theresa finds out too late. Rossner's main character comes across as a basically desperate human scarred by years of indifferent parents, a sister who was preferred in childhood over her and a low self-image caused by a curved spine (although later corrected by surgery). In seeking approval, validation, redemption and love, Theresa ventures forth into the darkness and risks of anonymous sex and, of course, not finding in the darkness what she seeks. The accomplishment of "Goodbar" is Rossner's uncanny ability to focus on and then bare the desperation that fuels any person's search for love or whatever it's called. All too often, the searchers who wander too far into the blackness meet the same final fate that Theresa does, and Rossner's descriptive talents of that fate spare no one. Hers is a cautionary tale that, if we must, don't go too far into the night without a light on in the brain. Without it, we may never get a second chance. The book was later turned into a theatrical film with Diane Keaton turning in a tremendous performance. Both the film and book warrant attention and respect of the dangers of the night.

This is definitely one of those novels that is like a car accident-- it's ugly, but you can't look away. Rossner's hypnotic writing style and pitch-perfect characterization will hook you from page one. What is perhaps most haunting about this work, however, is not being ushered into this dark, lonely way of life that Theresa Dunn leads but rather finding out just how many similarities you share with her. This book will definitely stay with you, which isn't the best feeling, frankly, but trust me, if you don't read it, you're missing out on a superb literary experience.

Rarely has a bestseller had such a powerful yet upsetting impact on the psyche of contemporary American sexuality. Judith Rossner's novel brutally reflects the condition of today's swinging singles scene with the story of Theresa Dunn, a young 20-something grade school teacher living alone in Manhattan during the freewheeling 70's. On the surface, Theresa resembles the compassionate, down-to-earth All-American Girl that we can all identify with. Her ambition and desire for freedom and personal liberation transform her from a shy, insecure girl into an independent young woman living in the Lower East Side with a career teaching second graders. But as a result of a few traumatic events in her childhood and several debasing sexual relationships, this image is slowly deteriorated as we gain more insight into Theresa's troubled emotional and mental state. Add to that the unforgiving tide of the era's sexual revolution, Theresa becomes swept away in a pessimistic and alienated life of nameless sex and drug use.

Fearing genuine emotional intimacy and attachment with anyone, Theresa instead tries to fill the spiritual and emotional void inside of her by taking home various men from bars and clubs for sex, and then kicking them out afterward so that she won't have to face the emotional consequences. Not surprisingly, Theresa soon finds herself spiraling downward at an out-of-control rate, and just as she realizes that she is careening toward catastrophe, she takes the wrong man home with her, and thus seals her own tragic fate.

Rossner spends a considerable amount of the novel producing the background circumstances for Theresa's behavior, so that we can see why she unwittingly paid the ultimate price for the sake of misguided pleasure. What sets this novel miles ahead of similar psychological thrillers is the unsympathetic realism that is portrayed in the circumstances surrounding Theresa's self-destruction. The sex scenes are unpleasant and emotionally deadening and you'll never find more starkly realistic dialogue anywhere else. And then there's that notoriously graphic and bone-chilling ending which will haunt you for several weeks to follow....

Probably the biggest reason why such an overwhelmingly depressing novel like this was so widely popular and culturally influential is because Theresa is such an explicit reflection of the very worst in all of us. Not only do we see Theresa's insecurities and fears in our own thoughts, but her story is still told today again and again through the real-life tragic misjudgments of Natalie Holloway, Matthew Shepherd and others. This is not a crime novel or thriller. Rather, it is a psychological study of the tragic self-destruction of a human being. Overall, `Looking for Mr. Goodbar' is an essential must-read for those who are brave enough to acknowledge why we as individuals often cannot help but destroy ourselves.

The story is a classic is all I can say, and deserves well known recognition for the real truth behind the story that many people can't see because of the excessive sex and swearing that goes on. Truthfully, this is at least one of the best and most intruiging stories I have ever read on all accounts. The dioluge isn't like that of so many other stories, where the characters don't talk like real people but like rich and artiqulate writers with a deadline to meet. Even the relationships and the issues they cover are completely realistic. These things aren't usually pulled off very well by a writer for numerous reasons. But probley my favorite part about Looking For Mr.Goodbar is Theresa *or Terry*. She's the ideal protaganist, really, because she has human faults and human issues, and she's not like the typical good girl hero we are supposed to love through and through. However, she's not particularly bad either. Instead she is caught in the middle going from side to side trying to make sense of where she really belongs.
But I must say that even the ending, which is very depressing and morbid, doesn't leave anything to be desired. In fact, I think it was the perfect and inevitable ending to one of the best books of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

When I saw this book I picked it up. I recognized it from its mention in "I Hate You-Don't Leave Me" which is a book about borderline personality disorder. I think the author wrote this book before there was even such a diagnosis, but even so, she gave the most realistic description I have ever seen.

From reading Nine Months in the Life of an Old Maid, I think Judith Rossner has a talent for creating characters that are neurotic- characters that you sometimes sympathize with, and sometimes want to slap in the face. This is especially true of Theresa after I have known someone like her in real life.

This book describes the main character from her childhood and on. Her childhood is not rife with melodramas such as abuse or molestation, but it is unhappy in a more subtle way. This shows how there are often problems under the surface within "normal" families. Medical problems and sibling rivalry are two things that have an ongoing effect in her life.

Her famous one-night-stand habit develops gradually after a long affair with a professor and meeting some other people she hoped would develop into a relationship. The scenes with these various people show the unpredictability and coldness of the bar scene, and people having obligatory sex with people they don't care about. Instead of describing fantasy sex laden with multiple orgasms, this book mainly deals with "realistic" sex, full of dysfunction and disappointment. I think since the characters all had unprotected sex, and plenty of other sexual problems were mentioned, it would have been an appropriate book to write about STDs (which are rarely mentioned outside of health books, but are a common result of all these sexual escapades so frequently written about).

She has 2 main relationships in the book. The one is an ambiguous ongoing sex-partner thing with Tony. He is unpredictable about when he shows up and when he ignores her, but she waits around for him and obsesses over him. The other is with a gentlemanly character named James Morrissey, someone who treats her respectfully and takes a lot of her abuse. I've seen this happen so much in real life: someone clinging to someone who treats her bad, and taking for granted someone who treats her well.

I love some of the conversations she has with Morrissey. Like most characters in the book, he is neither perfect nor completely vile. He does come off like a wuss, but in general I really do feel for him. Theresa tries to push his buttons sometimes, then other times she suddenly bursts into tears, and other times she suddenly hates him, only to cling to him a few minutes later. She doesn't know how to feel from one moment to the next.

There are some great descriptions of Theresa's thoughts as well. Her wondering what makes her so unappealing that no one calls her back. (This is early on in the book, when she does seem like a nice person.) Her resentfully thinking her sister is still closer to her parents even when she's across the world. Her not believing Morrissey is in love with her, and thinking he's either lying or has a distorted view of her. These and others are thoughts that a lot of people can deeply identify with. Some of her thoughts are pretty insightful, and some of them, even though they're petty, are honest.

Sometimes (just like in real life) I'm thinking "big deal, your problems aren't that bad, you're spoiled", but then each person reacts differently to their situations in life. She doesn't really have friends (some people have a hard time relating to anyone who doesn't give them a hormone rush) and has few other stable relationships. She becomes more lost as the book goes on.

I can see how some reviewers haven't liked this book, and when I was younger I probably wouldn't have liked it either, but now that I am older and have seen so many people who are like the characters, I thought it was pretty amazing.

"Looking for Mr. Goodbar" is sad, heart-breaking, and often intense. The book takes place in the 1960s (NOT the 70s, as many reviewers have stated)...it actually ends on New Year's Day, 1970. This is an important detail because Theresa's behavior was considered far more socially and morally unacceptable in the 1960s, than it would have been in the 1970s. She was not part of the counter-culture movement, so her promiscuity has nothing to do with "free love" in that sense. She is searching for something, some kind of escape from the feeling of abandonment she had in childhood. In short, Theresa has issues. The book does a good job of detailing her childhood sadness and showing how those experiences permeate her adult life, thereby affecting the decisions she makes.