Not Now, but Now [Paperback]

M. F. K. Fisher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1982

In this stylish novel, M.F.K. Fisher follows the course of Jennie, a willful, wandering woman, a lovely enchantress calculating the havoc caused by her life of danger and license.

Not Now but Now is Fisher's only novel. In it she traces the subtleties and nuances of a woman's mind. Controlled neither by others nor by time, Jennie moves through separate eras and beautifully drawn settings in San Francisco, Chicago, Lausanne, and Paris. rEVIEW: "Fisher depicts with startlingly sharp strokes the discrepancy between the inner and outer Jennie, creating a remarkable character that illuminates Fisher's evident skill at fiction writing." (Publishers Weekly).

REVIEW; "Her eye is so acute and her voice is so true, she invariably bewitches us." (Newsweek).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A true American treasure." -- Bill Moyers

About the Author

M.F.K. Fisher is the author of sixteen books of essays and reminiscences, many of which have become American classics. In 1991, she was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She died in 1992.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: North Point Pr (October 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865470723
• ISBN-13: 978-0865470729
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #989,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars mysterious and beautifully written, March 27, 1998

By 

Ellie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not Now, but Now (Paperback)

This novel is quite strange and lovely. It's made up of four different stories in four different times, but all featuring the same character: the beautiful and ruthless Jennie. She flees from one disaster of her own making to another, never admitting that she is the cause of her own troubles. But even though her bad qualities are readily apparent, Jennie has a way of enchanting the reader and the other characters. Fisher's prose is very clean and precise. Even though I'm not big on food writing, I plan to read some of her nonfiction just to enjoy her writing style some more.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love the title, April 11, 2006

By 

K. Dain Ruprecht (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not Now But Now (Paperback)

I've always had a fondness for this weird little book, the one and only novel of the late great food writer MFK Fisher. It's a picaresque tale of an proud and avowed egotist who inexplicably travels in time, living her life to the absolute fullest in the 1930's, 1840's, 1920's and 1880's (in that order), seducing the hell out of everyone with her gorgeous perfection and impeccable style, and causing mayhem through the mere force of her sexy superiority. Having read Fisher's classic food musings, which can be a bit hard to swallow at times (ha) I wonder if the awe-inspiring "Jennie" is modeled after her own wonderful self. She certainly had an amazing life, and she was beautiful. "Jennie", too, is thin as a rail but eats like a queen... The book has some pretty arch observances, especially on the subject of women's sensuality and aging, homosexuality and the like. It's quite modern. I adore post-War American fiction like this because of the frank and utter lack of political correctness...It's a delight to read and it's a shame that it's been pretty much forgotten. It's a thousand and one times better than any of the phony-foodie-chic-lit being written nowadays (not that I've actually read any).

5.0 out of 5 stars Vanity thy name is... Jennie, February 9, 2011

By 

E. J. Buzzell (Kalamazoo, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Not Now But Now (Paperback)

A book of four novellas that compelled me across stages of the adult life of a supremely self-centered person. Jennie is a Becky Sharp-like enchantress that Fisher has written large, with all her fashionable glory and unredeemed flaws displayed for us. This is a woman with a remarkable ability to pick herself up, dust herself off and start all over again and again and again. Its all about her and her amazing determination to be just exactly who she is. Her experience never trumps that principle. The reader can't help but marvel at this clever tale of relationship wreckages and phoenix-like recoveries of a truly memorable fictional character.