About this title: The setting is an idyllic Alpine village where a woman's underwear factory nestles in the woods. Two factory workers, Brigitte and Paula, dream and talk about finding happiness, a comfortable home and a good man. They realize that their quest will be as hard as work at the factory. Brigitte subordinates her feelings and goes for Heinz, a young, ...
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Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Publishers Overstock. A Good copy with a Remainder Mark and wear to the covers and the extremities. Buy with confidence from an Independent Bookstore where the owners, a husband and wife team, have over 30 years of combined bookselling experience. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Serpents Tail
Date Published: 1995-07-01
ISBN-13:9781852422370ISBN:1852422378
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781852422370. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Serpent's Tail
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9781852422370ISBN:1852422378
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Very Good. VERY GOOD with minimal wear to cover and pages. Binding fully intact. We offer a no-hassle guarantee on all our items. Orders generally ship by the next business day. Default Text. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Serpent's Tail
Date Published: 7/1/1995
ISBN-13:9781852422370ISBN:1852422378
Description: Very Good. 1852422378 SOFTCOVER, NICE/CLEAN, HAS JUST A TAD COSMETIC EXTERIOR WEAR-BINDING TIGHT, PAGES CLEAN, NO HI-LIGHTING/UNDERLINING. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Serpent's Tail
Date Published: 7/1/1995
ISBN-13:9781852422370ISBN:1852422378
Description: Good. 1852422378 SOFTCOVER, BACK COVER PARTIALLY TORN, GOOD CONDITION WITH MODERATE COSMETIC WEAR, PAGES CLEAN WITH NO HIGHLIGHTING/UNDERLINING/MARKS, BINDING TIGHT, NO MAJOR FLAWS. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Serpent's Tail
Date Published: 15/11/1994
ISBN-13:9781852422370ISBN:1852422378
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
"This almost achieved a five star rating for me, until the last handful of pages when it felt a bit redundant. However, this book which is written like a piece of prose poetry, is filled with a stark vision of the options that a woman has in a unnamed culture. Of course, I personalized the book to myself and saw some correlations between my own cultural upbringing and those of the two women that are examples in this book.
Brigitte and Paula both must somehow secure their own futures by choosing the appropriate man and then somehow convincing that man that he is in love with her (which results in marriage). One woman's story is pronounced "successful" while the other one does not achieve success and ends up destitute and in the worst possible situation. The novel is grim. Success is attached to the womb and the path that leads to that place isn't pleasurable or happy, just a long suffering that must be endured until the seed is planted.
"Can a book get more unrelentingly negative than this? Well, yes, maybe something by Thomas Bernhard, Elfriede Jelinek's fellow Austrian (sorry about the word "fellow" Elfriede). Gosh, on page 159, Jelinek herself says, in jest of course, "One must not describe only negative and ugly things." Negative and ugly is thy name, Ms. Jelinek, at least in this tome. In fact, when these characteristics become so extreme they become almost funny--and in some ways this is a very funny book. Okay, so why four stars? Well, in my opinion, this most controversial of all modern Nobel prize winners has a powerful and unforgettable style. For example, there is not a capital letter in the book, which is, I think, Jelinek's way of saying that the world she describes is so petty and stupid that it should not be honored with caps! Moreover, and with apologies to all members of my pitiful gender, Jelinek has much to say about men, women, and such delightful institutions as marriage that is, dare I say it, all too true. In fact, I recommend this book to all women raised in my own gender-conservative tradition, if only as a useful antidote to the romanticism that enslaves and destroys so many of them (half of them, to be sure, enslaved and destroyed with a smile on their face and great joy in their heart). So, my conclusion is that there is real genius here . . . now I need to read the "Piano Player" or one of Jelinek's other novels to discover if there is also versatility."
"I tried to read this for my book group, but it was too expository and too strident in its politics. At certain points I enjoyed the narrative voice and its harsh judgment, but it always kept me at an arm's length as a reader. It was more of a diatribe about women and relationships than a novel with a story. I gave up."
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