Norma Fontaine lives in a world of handy tips and sensible advice. Whether it's choosing the right girdle or honing her feminine allure, she measures life by the standards set in women’s magazines. But Norma discovers that the real world is less delightful — and more sinister — than portrayed in the glossies. When dark secrets threaten her brother’s blossoming romance, Norma must decide whether to sacrifice life in a woman's world for the sake of her brother’s happiness. As her decision is slowly revealed, readers realize that, like life in the magazines, Norma isn’t quite what she seems. Painstakingly assembled from 40,000 fragments of text snipped from women’s magazines, this strange and wonderful tale moves at the breakneck pace of a pulp thriller. A stunning visual tour de force, Woman’s World is also a powerful reflection on society’s definition of what it means to be a woman.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
At heart, Rawle's overlong fantasia—constructed entirely out of 40,000 text fragments, printed in facsimile, that he cut from 1960s British women's magazines—is a tribute to the pulp noir spirit. In suburban England circa 1960, 29-year-old Roy Little suffers from a split personality, apparently the result of a mysterious accident (or was it?) sustained by his sister in childhood. His other self, Norma Fontaine, lives in a dream of the latest fashions, beauty tips and handy hints for the home, watched over by an attentive if disapproving housekeeper, Mary. Or could Mary actually be Roy's mother? We find ourselves rooting for Roy as he applies for a job and meets the attractive, good-humored Eve in a cafe. But Norma keeps rearing her unruly head until one afternoon, she dresses herself to the nines and gets picked up by a photographer, Mr. Hands, with deadly results. British collagiste Rawle charms with sheer campy gumption. The text itself, however, looks like a cut-'n'-paste ransom note. It's fine for a page or two, but becomes wearisome long before the last of the 400-plus pages. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"A brilliant invention, allowing full lyrical use of the available material...Woman's World may prove to be metafiction's first bestseller." -- The Guardian
"Woman's World is an absorbing, unsettling story...an amazing mash-up, a beautifully bizarre accomplishment..." -- Erin Loeb, Bookslut
"Woman's World is charming, chilling, sinister, surreal and utterly unforgettable." -- The Scotsman
"Amazing...It has to be seen to be believed." -- Jezebel.com
"The most wildly original novel produced in this country in the past decade...This book is a work of genius." -- The Times
"Woman's World is an absorbing, unsettling story...an amazing mash-up, a beautifully bizarre accomplishment..." -- Erin Loeb, Bookslut
"Woman's World is charming, chilling, sinister, surreal and utterly unforgettable." -- The Scotsman
"Amazing...It has to be seen to be believed." -- Jezebel.com
"The most wildly original novel produced in this country in the past decade...This book is a work of genius." -- The Times
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The `woman' of the title exists through the cuttings that make up her story: so that in effect, the narrator is created by the text itself. This sounds a bit too clever by half: and it is: but that doesn't stop it being an un - put - down - able read.
Graham Rawle's expert manipulation of cuttings from 1960s womens' magazines presents a deeply compelling psychological portrait. A fascinating insight into the mindset of a `lady' prescribed by the media of the time - promoting obsession with home furnishings, elegant waistlines and a naive notion of romantic love - is juxtaposed with the ever more complex reality of a troubled and restless mind unable to lay ghosts from the past to rest. You're reeled in by a need to determine the `real' voice through the dizzying proliferation of media jargon and retro fashion imagery. As the plot seeps through the cracks between cuttings, the depiction of lonely characters going about their suburban routine existences masterfully undercuts the superficial glossy ideal. Our heroine's clumsy foot tries to boot the gritty banality of her world into a relentlessly romantic vision of glamorous cosmopolitanism. The fit is as ungainly as the dresses she dons. The result is by turns painfully sad, eery and hysterically funny. Latent hysteria sets the pace of this unlikely thriller, where reality and fantasy head for a full - on collision.
Each page is a work of art: incorporating the whimsical phraseology of the time, lacing kitsch inanities with instances of poetic poignancy, punctuating moments of insight with visual cues, the text literally sliding off the page in moments of panic. The modern - day Frankenstein's monster wears `raucous red Boulevard Court shoes'.
Graham Rawle's expert manipulation of cuttings from 1960s womens' magazines presents a deeply compelling psychological portrait. A fascinating insight into the mindset of a `lady' prescribed by the media of the time - promoting obsession with home furnishings, elegant waistlines and a naive notion of romantic love - is juxtaposed with the ever more complex reality of a troubled and restless mind unable to lay ghosts from the past to rest. You're reeled in by a need to determine the `real' voice through the dizzying proliferation of media jargon and retro fashion imagery. As the plot seeps through the cracks between cuttings, the depiction of lonely characters going about their suburban routine existences masterfully undercuts the superficial glossy ideal. Our heroine's clumsy foot tries to boot the gritty banality of her world into a relentlessly romantic vision of glamorous cosmopolitanism. The fit is as ungainly as the dresses she dons. The result is by turns painfully sad, eery and hysterically funny. Latent hysteria sets the pace of this unlikely thriller, where reality and fantasy head for a full - on collision.
Each page is a work of art: incorporating the whimsical phraseology of the time, lacing kitsch inanities with instances of poetic poignancy, punctuating moments of insight with visual cues, the text literally sliding off the page in moments of panic. The modern - day Frankenstein's monster wears `raucous red Boulevard Court shoes'.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As an English teacher in an urban setting, I am always searching for literature that is 'outside the box,' that breaks the rules of stuffy, formulaic writing by writers who have no artistic vision. With "Woman's World" I have ignited young adults struggling with literacy; they are creating their own literary visions from music and art magazines. Is not the purppose of literature to implore the reader to think, to create, to act? Is this not the a similar purpose of an artist? Not only are my students engaging in this artistic journey, but two other teachers are now using it. "Woman's World" is a complelling read, to say the least. Each line, each phrase, each word, draws the reader to think of the process, thus, one is drawn not only into the characters' lives, but one is drawn into the writer's life as well. What a refreshing read!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This story is well written, fun, creative & clever. The text/picture cutouts sprinkle 1960s language & images into a modern-day tale. An intriguing story that kept me delighted turning pages to see what the author's creativity would reveal. An absolute masterpiece of writing and art combined. Get it - you've not seen anything like it before.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Amazing
This is an amazing book, both because of its unexpectedly moving story and because of the unique way it has been physically put together. Read more
Published on February 11, 2010 by Tia Lowe
Incredible
Woman's World is a marvelous novel constructed completely out of women's magazines from the 1960s. Each page is a collage of words and paragraphs put together in great detail by... Read more
Published on July 19, 2009 by C. J. Pearmon
Cunning Stunt
In Graham Rawle's Oulipean fantasy, set in suburban England circa 1960. Stirling Moss, Cliff Richard, Diana Dors, and Sylvia Sims are the presiding spirits of the women's... Read more
Published on January 7, 2009 by Kevin Killian
A Real 1960's Woman
I found this book when I heard about Graham Rawle's re-illustrated Wizard of Oz. I couldn't get the technical concept of Woman's World out of my head. Read more
Published on October 13, 2008 by Gillian Daniels
Totally unique work of art
This book is totally unique. Written in the style of a ransom note using words and phrases snipped from 1950s women's magazines, every page is a beautiful work of art. Read more
Published on June 14, 2008 by ponyexpress
More than just reading
When I was a child I loved to climb into the window seat behind my grandmother's sofa, draw the curtains so I was hidden from anyone who came into the room, and spend hours poring... Read more
Published on June 10, 2008 by M. A. Lord
impress amount of work doesn't impress
Graphic designers and collage artists will appreciate the amount of work and thoughtfulness that went into the production of this book; it is quite beautifully designed. Read more
Published on May 28, 2008 by A. janney
Alot of excitement over nothing much...
In reading & hearing about this book, I felt that this was one I had to get. When it came & I paged through it, yes I was impressed with the "set-up", and yes the author did an... Read more
Published on May 25, 2008 by Katie R. Ann
Interesting format; OK story.
I don't want to spoil the "surprise," but it isn't very hard to figure out. The collage format is impressive and interesting to read, but the story is just average. Read more
Published on March 15, 2008 by xinzi
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Introduction (From Wikipedia)
Woman's World is the title of a 2005 novel by Graham Rawle. It is unique for having been created entirely from fragments of text clipped from 1960s women's magazines. The book describes itself (in its subtitle) as "a graphic novel", but anyone expecting a graphic novel in the comic book tradition will be surprised: the novel is a graphic novel in the sense that it has been constructed visually from cutouts of various 60's women's magazines. The medium of the novel creates different layers of meaning within the plot, leading to insightful, hilarious, and often heartbreaking moments.
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Woman's World (novel). Amazon is not affiliated with, and neither endorses, nor is endorsed by Wikipedia or any of the authors who contributed to this article. The Wikipedia content may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: CC BY-SA. Additional or other terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.
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Miss Harrow, Egmont Street, Afferton Road, Marcia Modes, Peter Pan, Dixon of Dock Green, Salvation Army, Gwenda Stewart, Sergeant Dixon, Miss Fontaine, Ford Anglia, Great Colmore Street, Michael Miles Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Miss Harrow, Egmont Street, Afferton Road, Marcia Modes, Peter Pan, Dixon of Dock Green, Salvation Army, Gwenda Stewart, Sergeant Dixon, Miss Fontaine, Ford Anglia, Great Colmore Street, Michael Miles Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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