Spinsters (High Risk Books) [Paperback]

Pagan Kennedy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1995 | Series: High Risk Books

Frannie and Doris, sisters and spinsters, are finally free from family ties and constraints. Taking off in their Plymouth Valient, they hit the road on a journey through the changing cultural landscape of America - civil rights marches and the assassination of Martin Luther King.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Hero to millions of over-educated hipsters, Pagan Kennedy has produced zines, short stories, a semi-autobiography, and this novel, a tiny gem that disappoints only because it is too short. Fran and Dora, two aspiring spinsters who leave the home of their recently deceased father to search out elderly aunts in need of a codependant relationship, discover the youth culture of the late '60s as they drive across America. Coming to terms with the fact that they are not yet old enough to live out their fantasy life of quiet, feminine obsolescence, the two react in contradictory ways to the radical social change that they had failed to notice in their tiny New Hampshire hometown. Kennedy weaves political and personal history together in her extremely fluid prose, producing a work that is swift and moving, leaving the reader wanting more.

From Publishers Weekly

Kennedy's (Stripping and Other Stories) thoroughly delightful story of two road-tripping spinster sisters out to discover themselves will appeal to all but die-hard cynics. Frannie and Doris, both in their 30s, find their lives opening up in strange new ways once their father, to whom they sacrificed their young adulthoods, dies. On the road from Virginia to Arizona, Doris, always the popular, pretty one in high school, wants to party, while the more awkward narrator, Frannie, is still shy about men, having had her heart broken long ago. The story of Frannie's sexual awakening unfolds through her gently ironic narrative, which is filled with clever metaphors (her "curls [were] stiff as meringue") and is both innocent and self-aware ("that night I had a strange dream. It started off as any spinster's dream world, with worries about change lost and trains missed. But suddenly it shifted"). Effectively set against the backdrop of the late '60s?the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., the Vietnam War, the '68 Democratic convention?these two charismatic characters change and evolve in ways that reflect the nation's metamorphosis. While some readers may object to Frannie's selfhood emerging through sexual feelings for a man, such criticism is ultimately shallow, as this creative, witty and subtly adventuresome character is able to treat her sexual coming-of-age as yet another wonderful discovery in an unpredictable, quirky world.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail; First Thus edition (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852424052
• ISBN-13: 978-1852424053
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #324,021 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A box of chocolates, October 26, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Spinsters (High Risk Books) (Paperback)

At the risk of sounding too Forrest Gump-ish, I would have
to say that "Spinsters" is like a box of chocolates. Each
chapter is a perfect little world, and when you finish one
you stop and say to yourself "Oh, I think I'll have just one
more." Before you know it the book is finished, and you sit
there, completely satisfied, but unsure as to exactly what
you have just consumed. So you stop for a moment, and like
remembering a particularly yummy nougat or macadadamia nut
center, you recall wonderfully realized moments, and smile
as each new memory of these characters, who have become a
part of your life, plays across the pleasure centers of your
brain. This book, like a box of chocolates, is deceptively
simple. As you bite into each chapter the chocolate is only
a facade covering the creamy, sweet inviting centers that
await with each page turn. But best of all reading this
book is an absolutely fat-free experience. All of the
pleasure, none of the guilt.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Totally Ordinary, September 9, 1999

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spinsters (High Risk Books) (Paperback)

I'd heard the buzz about Pagan Kennedy, so I figured I'd grab this and see what the fuss was all about. Set in 1968, the book is about two 30-something sisters who embark on a cross-country road trip following the death of their father, who've they've been caring for. It's more or less a belated coming of age tale for Frannie, the virgin of the two, as she gradually sheds her safe life and appearance. Although there are a couple of nice lines ("My mother understood longing better than love.") it didn't strike me as anything special and didn't enthuse me to pursue anything else by Kennedy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read slowly, February 13, 2006

By 

Jon C. Lundell "Jon C Lundell" (Newton, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spinsters (High Risk Books) (Paperback)

I liked this book more than I can say. I found the prose so overwhelmingly, sometime excruciatingly, lovely that I forced myself to read slower, to make it last, not end so soon. Then I read it again.