Four witty, bitter-sweet stories by talented young German film-writer whose film "Men" reached out beyond its obvious feminist audience to achieve great success in New York and London. Men and films, and the dreams that films embody, form the background to the stories.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
A German film director known for mordant feminist comedies, Dorrie is also a dazzling writer with a distinctive voice, as confirmed by these four stories. In "Men" (the basis for her movie of the same title), an advertising executive who discovers his wife is having an affair with a hippie dons faded jeans and long hair as a disguise, then moves in with his cuckolding rival. They experience male bonding, until the exec cleverly nudges the hippie into becoming a hustling adman himself. "Money," an outrageous farce, probes sexual and class tensions as a married couple drowning in debt rob a bank and take the manager hostage. Anna, the heroine of "Straight to the Heart," dyes her hair blue, plays a saxophone and steals a Turkish baby to please the "rich ice-cube" dentist who has installed her in his house to alleviate his loneliness. "Paradise," a strange, dreamlike fable, concerns a menage a trois in which a husband's obsession with his wife's girlfriend drains his psyche and his marriage. Dorrie's casual, deadpan style belies the tight compression of these acid meditations on the trivialization of women, the trials of marriage and being single, and loss of meaning in work and social interactions.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The characters in this collection of four stories are caught between two themes: first, that people are transformed by their basically wild natures; and second, that dominant cultural patterns make us normal "like all the others." Dorrie works these extremes with mastery, producing comic stories that nonetheless take a bite out of contemporary society. Thus, a blue-haired saxophonist judiciously fakes a pregancy. A middle-class couple is more direct; they rob banks. Julius Armbrust quits his job designing packages to destroy psychologically his wife's lover. And Jakob lies in the mud watching a shopgirl read Flaubert. One story, "Men," was filmed by Dorrie and released to rave reviews and packed theaters in Germany. She is thus emerging on the international scene as both an important writer and director, and her first work is highly recommended.
- Paul Hutchison, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Paul Hutchison, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Grab it, but first put the razors away,
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This review is from: Love Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (Hardcover)
Whatever the publishers were smoking when they approved the synopsis for this book needs to be sent over to my house! This book has absolutely no relevance to the summary provided online and on the back of the book. It is not a dark comedy, I didn't laugh once. It surely wasn't incredibly new & refreshing. I read the bible...these topics are old school.This book wasn't subtle feminism; in fact, most of the women came off as submissive, two-dimensional cardboard cut-outs. Note: It doesn't make you a feminist if you're "living out loud on your own damn terms" while hubby goes to work all day to pay for your dalliances so he can still get his medicine at night. That's what we femmes like to call "contractual prostitution" or, in other words, a housewife. Sorry, but if Anais Nin can't get away with it, neither can you. And we're moving....Then there's this quote from Publisher's Weekly: "Dorrie's casual, deadpan style belies the tight compression of these acid meditations on the trivialization of women, the trials of marriage and being single, and loss of meaning in work and social interactions." I got two words for you: "Everybody Hurts". I get that, in both the R.E.M. video and this book, we're supposed to be moved by how it's all really meaningless and everybody's life sucks, but do artist really think we forgot this? Really?! Unfortunately, much like the song, the only thought it provoked in me is a reminder to get alcohol next time I'm out, preferably before my mom calls again. And we're moving... So, with all that being said I bet you're wondering why I gave it three stars? I gave it one for the bold move of straight up lying to the masses. I gave it another for the simple fact that it was so depressing and sad, it bordered on horror. Nice. And finally, I gave it one more star for being an incredibly fast read - I read it in under 6 hours.
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