Perfidia [Paperback]

Judith Rossner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 1997

In Perfidia, Judith Rossner brings her unparalleled talent for dramatically uncovering those disturbing emotions we keep hidden to an electrifying story of a mother and a daughter--and reveals the complex and intense undercurrents of hostility and competition that flow beneath every mother-daughter relationship.



Maddy Stern wants more than anything to feel loved by her divorced mother, who lavishes attention on Maddy's half-brother and her lovers while alternately abusing and ignoring her daughter. Sexually voracious and dangerously self-absorbed, Anita Stern competes with the teenage Maddy over everything--achievements, looks, even men. With Maddy's affair with the seductive Geraldo, the threatened loss of control over the Santa Fe art gallery Anita has built up, and Maddy's planned departure for college, their home becomes a battleground that explodes into violence--and death.



This is Judith Rossner's tenth novel and the first, since Looking for Mr. Goodbar, in which she has dealt with those forces in "ordinary" people that are so dark as to lead them to murder. Smart, desperately funny and shockingly real, Perfidia is simply impossible to put down.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Rossner, best known for Looking for Mr. Goodbar (LJ 6/15/75), focuses her attention here on a mother-daughter relationship; like most of Rossner's fictional relationships, it is not healthy. Madeline enjoys her mother, Anita's, love until a brother is born. Then as drugs, alcohol, and sex become increasingly important to Anita, Madeline becomes her mother's scapegoat, a despised child. Early on, we know the outcome will be horrific. Our apprehension, consequently, increases with every page. One of Rossner's trademarks is understatement; she recounts the most dreadful occurrences in a subdued, conversational tone?a tactic that makes the events even more offensive. In fact, if this were a movie, we would often hide our eyes. Rossner fans will be asking for this book.
-?Dorothy S. Golden, Georgia Southern Univ., Statesboro
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The author best known for her 1975 novel, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, again uses an actual murder case as inspiration for her fiction, this time in a masterful dissection of a young girl's tortured journey from mother-love to matricide. Anita Stern runs away from home when she's 16 and gives birth to her first child, out of wedlock, when she's 22. The ever- restless Anita manages to stay put for daughter Madeleine's first five years, but then the itch to wander takes hold of her again. She eventually settles in Santa Fe, moving in with a drug-dazed hippie who owns an old adobe house on Canyon Road. Demonstrating her practical brilliance, Anita soon turns the house into the road's largest art gallery; demonstrating her personal irresponsibility, she conceives a child with the hippie. But Anita loves babies. In fact, her adoration for baby Billy so completely eclipses her feelings for Madeleine that she often seems to forget that she even has a daughter. As Madeleine grows older, becoming ever more earnest and responsible in a futile effort to regain her mother's love, the hard-drinking Anita's neglect escalates to negligence (she stays out all night, or has sex in Madeleine's presence) and even physical abuse. Scarred by her mother's cruelty and by loneliness (her own first love affair ends badly), and longing for some sense of security, Madeleine finds herself locked in her adolescence into a love-hate struggle with her terrible mother--longing to return to the happiness of infancy, loathing her own ``boring neediness,'' and counting the days until her escape to college. Unfortunately, the stresses in Anita's life come to a head before Madeleine can flee. In an alcoholic rage, she attacks her daughter with a broken tequila bottle, and in fighting back, Madeleine alters both their fates. Relentless, suspenseful, and absolutely captivating. Rarely has a toxic mother-daughter love story been so expertly and convincingly evoked. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Nan A. Talese; 1st edition (September 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385484275
• ISBN-13: 978-0385484275
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,107,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars It was good but not as good as "Olivia"..., September 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Perfidia (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was a bit slow-moving in places but it still grabbed me -- but I like Judith Rossner's style of writing. The ending was disappointing; it felt like there should be more. If you like Judith Rossner's other books, including Looking for Mr. Goodbar and Olivia, you'll like this one. If you're new to Ms. Rossner's work, I'd start with Olivia and if you like that one then give this one a try.

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting character study, December 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Perfidia (Paperback)

It took me a little while to grasp the direction of this novel but about half way through it suddenly grabbed me and I couldn't stop reading until I had finished the last page. I found the characters very believable, thoroughly examined, although I would have liked to have seen more sides from mother. I thought the ending to be poignant and simply, just about right. Madeline was a strong character in a realistic, believable sense. Happiness is not always found in career, love or stability. Most of the time it is found in discovering one's own independent self. That is the message I derived from this book.

3.0 out of 5 stars disappointing ending, November 10, 1998

By 

gladys "lklndfl" (usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perfidia (Paperback)

This book was very well written but as the story continued it became increasingly more morbid and depressing. So much so that I would not pass it on to my daughters or friends to read. I kept reading in hopes that Madeline would turn her life around and find some happiness and sanity in a world where she had not known fulfillment of any kind. The story never did become uplifting and the reader is left feeling that Madeline relayed to us her thoughts, feelings and insights but refused to let us, the readers, know if she ever did have a happy life. Questions stirred in my mind....did she succeed in life...did she find happiness, love and contentment? I felt it totally unfair that she shared so much with us throughout the book simply to refuse to disclose what happened after she moved on.