Myrtle of Willendorf [Hardcover]

Rebecca O'Connell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 19, 1996

"Before God was a pale, thin man, people worshiped a robust, bountiful woman. This is the Venus of Willendorf." So says Myrtle's friend Margie at the beginning of this novel for young adult girls. Margie advocates self-affirmation and believes that "bountiful" women are to be celebrated, that each woman is to embrace the goddess within her. But Myrtle rejects Margie's friendship after an embarrassing moment and regards Margie as a "kook." Throughout the book, Myrtle struggles with prescribed notions of beauty. An obese girl fighting a compulsive eating disorder, she is self-destructive and shunned by her peers. In college, her roommate, Jada, tries to draw her into a world of cosmetics and thinness, but Myrtle senses that Jada's way is not her own. She sets about discovering her own path through artistic expression and is eventually drawn back to the beginning of the story and to Margie as she gains insight about her own beauty. In the end, she is a successful artist on the brink of self-discovery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Often witty and even more often provocative, this first novel is arresting despite its flaws. About to enter her sophomore year of college, narrator Myrtle is seriously overweight. As she tries to achieve some form of self-acceptance, she ruminates on her estrangement from her high school friend, Margie, a would-be coven leader who advocates Goddess worship. "Before God was a pale, thin man," Margie says, holding up a copy of the Venus of Willendorf, "people worshipped a robust, bountiful woman." At the other extreme is Myrtle's current roommate, Jada, who needs two hours to groom herself every morning and tries to "recruit [Myrtle] into her cosmetic cult." Jada is rarely without her handsome boyfriend, and Myrtle twice has the misfortune of walking in on their sexual encounters, including an elaborately and hilariously referenced oral sex act. An aspiring painter, Myrtle enters a racy drawing of Jada's boyfriend at a campus caf? then overhears Jada's friends ridiculing her. When one calls her a "lesbo," Myrtle's hurt and anger precipitate a revelation. Myrtle's voice is thoroughly compelling, even when she revels in her most disgusting habitsAas in her extended, loving description of biting her fingernails and toenailsAand even though the resolution comes too easily. However, for all Myrtle's fleshiness, she is not fully realized. She seems to have no family, and no life off the small stage that O'Connell shows us. But it testifies to O'Connell's talents that she leaves readers wanting more, not less, of her oversize heroine. Ages 12-up. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-Myrtle, a talented, funny, obese young woman, is unhappy with herself but feels powerless to change. Frequently shunned and ridiculed, she resorts to self-destructive behavior as a coping mechanism. She shares an apartment the summer between freshman and sophomore years in college with beautiful and sexually active Jada, who pressures her to try more traditional notions of beauty such as makeovers and dieting, which only make Myrtle feel worse. A postcard from her only high school friend, Margie, a practicing Wiccan, brings back painful memories. Taunts of being a lesbian caused the vulnerable teen to end their friendship, but Margie still tries to keep in touch with her. When Myrtle's erotic painting of Jada's boyfriend earns her the label "nympho-psycho-lesbo" from her roommate's friends, she is spurred to action. These hurtful words inspire her to paint her strongest piece yet, a self-portrait as a blue goddess in the form of the ancient stone figure, Venus of Willendorf. The artwork is purchased to hang in the Department of Women's Studies, and Myrtle takes tentative steps to reestablish her friendship with Margie. This powerful first novel is well written and thought-provoking. Teens will appreciate Myrtle's self-deprecating humor and cheer for her as she begins to realize her true strengths and like herself as she is.
Susan Riley (Farber), Greenburgh Public Library, Elmsford, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Front Street imprint of Boyds Mills Press; 1st edition (June 19, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886910529
• ISBN-13: 978-1886910522
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,998,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Myrtle is Mystical, July 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Myrtle of Willendorf (Hardcover)

This highly appealing and unusual herione experiences life inthe harsh world of high school and college by rising through the ashesof superficiality to become replete in her own majesty and talent. Unconventional and plaqued by the pressures of conformity, Myrtle rejects the standards of the main stream body of youth as symbolized by a character named Jada, a tall willowy representative of teen beauty and copes with her own eating disorder and self hatred. The result is a highly complex and all too human young woman who is blessed with enormous talent and who finds herself in a far more interesting world once she accepts her life as it is, rather than as she would like it to be. Myrtle finds success in her own life through kind if offbeat friends one of whom helps her in providing a venue for her art show in which her work is proudly displayed. It is her choice of work that finally defines and completes her acceptance and pride in herself. "Myrtle" who closely identifies with the prehistoric stone figure of Venus of Willendorf, becomes for all of us who experienced the insecurity of youth and desire for acceptance, a heroine whose courage and self deprecating humor set a new standard for today's young women and sends a clear message of truth to those tortured young people who strive to become what they are not. Rather, "Myrtle" gives a much needed boost to the idea that self esteem and acceptance is every bit as appealing as the picture on the magazine cover so sought after by today's young women. Myrtle and her friends teach us a much needed lesson about life and our place in it. I have only one wish and that is to see more of Myrtle and where her life goes in the future. Myrtle of Willendorf will keep you reading until the last page is done and you will not soon forget this extrememly different and appealing "goddess". Ms. O'Connell has taken an important subject and brought it home with humor, pathos and compassion.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book All Young Women Should Read!, July 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Myrtle of Willendorf (Hardcover)

Myrtle of Willendorf is a delightful book in which the main character, experiences those painful events of adolecense. Whether her perceptions are real or just the hyperbolic perceptions of a teen,it is how we have all felt at one time or another. Despite the seriousness of the issues (body-image and sexuality) the book maintains a delightful air of humor. It is one of those books that makes you wish you knew the author personally.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down, May 18, 2002

By 

Ice Princess (At the Skating Rink!) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Myrtle of Willendorf (Hardcover)

I couldn't put this book down! It is a very short book, so not being able to tear myself away wasn't a problem. It was just a really intense, really enjoyable reading afternoon. There is something about the main character - Myrtle - that made me want to keep reading. Her story (told in first person) is about how as an art student in college, she has an obnoxious roommate who is always trying to make Myrtle into something she's not. Myrtle misses her old best friend from high school, but they had a big fight thier senior year because they were accused of being lesbians. Meanwhile, some mysterious unexplained happenings make Myrtle think of her old friend and the mystical, magical things her friend taught her. It is all told in a funny, ironic way with lots of priceless details. For instance, Myrtle hangs out at a coffee shop that has a Dr. Seuss theme, and the owner of the coffee shop dispenses wise advice.
I LOVED this book, and even though I read it in one afternoon months ago, I still think about it all the time.