Amazon.com Review
Although
A Woman Like That is full of brave and often wrenching coming-out stories, with the expected emphasis on overcoming social and familial pressure (more than one of these writers describes involuntary stays in mental hospitals), the combined effect of these wonderful memoirs is more erotic than political--and more funny than erotic. In "Picture This," Cecilia Tan describes her suburban mother snapping up copies of
Penthouse to send to friends and relatives because it contained Tan's first nationally published fiction. In "What Comes First," Holly Hughes refers in passing to a gay-bashing incident at her college cafeteria--someone threw a fruit cocktail at her--and goes on to recount her difficulty at attracting a lesbian lover. "It had been so easy with men," she recalls, "All you had to do was bend over at the bowling alley and something would happen." Judith Katz remembers a game called "Tom and Tom" that she used to play with two little boys on her street: "Tom and Tom ... were human cartoon characters who ran around together and got their genitalia caught up in all kinds of elastic knots and snags." For some,
Desert Hearts; for others,
Road Runner.
--Regina Marler
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Reflecting the breadth and depth of the contemporary lesbian experience, these 31 coming-out stories collected by LarkinAco-editor of Gay and Lesbian Poetry in Our TimeAattest to their editor's training and sensibility as a poet (Cold River, etc.). Most of the featured authors have publishing credits in more than one genre and exhibit a refreshing facility with language. The stylistic and narrative variation, from Judith Katz's rollicking "Born Queer" to Judy Grahn's poetic "Windows," save the book from thematic sameness; the generally crisp prose keeps it from being pedantic. Many of the stories are, by necessity, coming-of-age stories, and several are, predictably, assertions of tomboyhood as a precursor to lesbianism. Several authors reveal the darker implications of breaking the traditional female mold, in moving and serious essays about having been forced into psychiatric treatment (Heather Lewis) and losing custody of children (Minnie Bruce Pratt). These are nicely offset by more lighthearted essays about wearing makeup and dresses, by Tristan Taoromino and Lesl?a Newman. Because Larkin invited mostly established writers to this anthology, it reads a little like a period piece, heavily weighted to the heyday of lesbian feminism in the 1970s and 1980s. With only a few exceptions, the essays are beautifully written, brought to life by humor and telling detail. Enhanced by the period author photos at the close of each essay, this collection could be put to good use in the classroom and especially by budding lesbians. Agent, Sydelle Kramer, Frances Goldin Literary Agency. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
