Suicide Blonde (Paperback)

by Darcey Steinke (Author) "WAS IT THE BOURBON OR THE DYE FUMES THAT MADE THE PINK walls quiver like vaginal lips?..." (more)
Key Phrases: Madam Pig, San Francisco, Black Rose (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The author of Up Through the Water evokes sordid, neon-lit San Francisco nights in her brooding, explicit new novel of sexual degradation and futility. The story opens as narrator Jesse, shunned by her aloof lover Bell, bleaches her hair in a pathetic effort to impress him. "I have always been attracted to people who make me feel inadequate," Jesse admits, and Bell--who frequently leaves her for homosexual liaisons and craves a former male lover--is a perfect example. But he needs her, too, to provide his false link to conventional heterosexuality. Jesse manages to leave Bell, but continues to welcome abuse; she descends into the nocturnal world of heroin addict Madison, an icy, cruel woman who derives her strength from punishing the weak. Every conversation here constitutes a power struggle; every statement brings revelation. Jesse's relentless introspection, raw emotions and indulgence in meaningless sexual encounters may put off some readers. Nevertheless, Steinke reveals many hard-to-accept truths about sentimental love, self-delusion and obsession as she strips each character of dignity. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
After her relatively demure debut (Up Through the Water, 1989), Steinke turns up the heat for this episodic tale of kinky sex and all-out depravity. It's a bad girl's memoir of her descent into the netherworld of San Francisco's Mission District. In two weeks, pretty young Jesse (a woman always ``attracted'' to people who make her feel ``inadequate'') explores the seamy underside of modern life. Doing penance for her ``bland suburban past,'' Jesse ``dabbles in perversity.'' Her lover, a handsome actor named Bell, is busy mooning for his former boyfriend, soon to be married in L.A. Insanely jealous, Jesse confides in Madam Pig, an obese alcoholic for whom she keeps house. The reclusive old dame encourages Jesse to seek out a woman named Madison, who Pig claims is her daughter. In fact, Madison, Pig's ex-lover, is now a junkie prostitute who works from a bar in the Mission. From the moment they meet, Jesse is drawn to her sense of ease and power, and moves into Madison's apartment. Jesse's adventures begin: a trip to a live peep show; anonymous sex in a darkroom; sex with Bell in the presence of a trollish homosexual; masturbation with a statute of Christ in an empty church; a hand-job to a homosexual in a gay bar; turning a few tricks at Madison's whorehouse; smoking opium in a den run by a hermaphrodite; and witnessing Madison penetrate a john so violently with her fist that he dies. This last finally convinces Jesse that all ``relationships'' are ``sinister, violent, even murderous.'' As if all this weren't laying it on a bit thick, Steinke has Bell commit suicide at the very moment of Kevin's wedding. That's totally in keeping with the reductive psychology everywhere evident in this silly, violent book. So self-consciously seeking ``that exquisite kick of perversity,'' this callow fiction comes off as something along the lines of a much more sincere American Psycho. All the more pathetic. Expect the usual brouhaha: condemnation, then increased sales. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802136648
• ISBN-13: 978-0802136640
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #63,807 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cover shmover, April 10, 2001

By	G. Collins (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Many of the reviews seem disappointed that the book didn't live up to the promise of its cover. Hmm. Well, never judge a...never mind.

Not a great book, but a pretty good one. It reads at times like the product of a graduate school writing program, a bit too self-conscious and self-reflexive in spots, too afraid to let the reader figure things out for himself or herself. One of the more annoying qualities are the passages where the protagonist is compelled to diagnose herself and the other characters in the book. But this may have been a deliberate device, since she also describes herself as "the worst kind of person, attractive, overeducated, raised with middle-class delusions of grandeur."

As a whole, it is sleight and a little wanting, but she mines the story for all it's worth. The imagery in some places is reminiscent of "Steppenwolf", her descents into debauchery echoing some of the hypnotic and hallucinatory alternate "realities" that he experiences at the end of that novel. I suggest just going with them -- don't be too terribly concerned if they don't make sense, they're supposed to be dreamlike. Steinke is no Hesse, but I'm sure a Freudian (if any true ones still exist -- we might have to use a Jungian) could find plenty to both love and hate in this short book. But be forewarned, it also takes some of the more unpleasantly frustrating and non-sensical twists and turns reminiscent of Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Unconsoled." At least "Suicide Blonde" won't take you 500+ pages to realize that you don't like it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Made me want to commit suicide! A Blonde speaks., June 11, 2001

By A Customer

Ah, the well turned phrase. It has moved mountains, and moved bowels. In the case of Darcey Steinke's book, for me, it was the latter. I found this book to be profundly unmoving and completely, laughably unbelievable. And yet, it takes itself so seriously! Steinke's protagonist is a self-absorbed, insecure, and completely unempathetic young woman with manifold unresolved issues with her Mother. In other words, 'pass the bridget jones, and sprinkle her with leather and piss'. It's just so boring and contrived it made me concoct fantasies of my own suicide while reading it. Let's see...yet another novel about a woman in her 20's obsessed with an unattainable man who tumbles headlong into self destruction and bemoans every aspect of her life while simultaneously possessing immense beauty, privilege, and educational background. How very droll!Noone in this book ever eats, sleep, goes to work, or has a satisfying personal encounter, and yet they all have roofs over their heads and cash for nine dollar cocktails in the Tenderloin.

Believe it or not, I really wanted to love this book. Steinke writes beautifully and lyrically in a way that suggests great talent. But the scenes of sexual depravity are just all so unconvincing. You never really *believe* that jess is living all of these experiences. She's clearly just fabricating them, as she fabricates her relationship with Bell. And the suicide at the end is such an anti-climax it's almost funny.

Despite my disdain for this book, I'd probably read her next one, simply to see if she's grown into what she seems capable of being-- an incredibly gifted lyric noverlist whose stories are currently too fanciful and bizarre to be even interesting. This book should be listed under sci-fi.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DREARY BUT WORTH READING, December 13, 2006

By	Peter Payne - See all my reviews

This is not the sort of book I ordinarily read, but one reason to read is to see into the minds of authors and characters that are completely different from oneself. So I read Suicide Blonde. The book is just as pessimistic and depressing as the title suggests. While the book does not provide insight into why the characters are so emotionally messed up, this is perhaps because it is written in the first person, and the main character seems to have no understanding of herself. She does, on the other hand, sometimes say things that are intriguing and make one stop and think, such as: "What is love but nostalgia for someone's history?" I shall not give anymore of these pithy statements away, as they are what makes reading the book worthwhile. But despite these little gems, the author presents a view of life and people I do not care to ever encounter again.
(Peter Payne, Author of CAPTAIN CALIFORNIA BATTLES THE BEELZEBUBIAN BEASTS OF THE BIBLE)