WREViE—w i unoEii THE coveris 2M
After storming the 1994 Edinburgh ; 2 MEDIA ANGELS
Fringe with their excellent comedy
show Kittens Go Grrr, Mel and Sue are I Where The Girls Are - Growing Up Female With Mass Media Susan
back for a stint at The Tron on Fri 28
and Sat 29 April as part of Maytest.
“em they “weal the" “mom: leading Douglas (Penguin £9.99) In this witty
habits that suetCh "0m biogiaphy ‘0 antl intriguing portrayal of the rise of feminism amid the mixed messages of pop-culture -~ be desirable but always
remember ‘nice girls don't‘. you too can get to college but don't expect a career - media professor Douglas provides a colourful documentation of the lives of American females against
the cultural background ofthe last four decades.
Guiding us through a melange of pop icons. the late twentysomcthing reader gets happily esconscd in screen and vinyl nostalgia from girl groups ofthe ()()s to ('lriirli‘e '3‘ Angels of the 70s and the resurgence of the 80s catfight in Dal/us and Dynasty. The American news coverage of feminists too gets a pasting for representing them as man- hating. karate-chopping. bra-less bubbleheads.
Familiar territory in an exciting. inciting way. this is all stuff worth remembering. (Katy Lironi)
PAPERBACKS
porn.
l at,
I Bombay Talkie .-\itieeii.i .\leer illigh Risk Books/ Serpent-s 'l‘ail L“) 9”) In search of her roots. Sabah leaves America for India btit discovers a \\ ild. tiriespected side to her culture. .\le.'inwhi|e. her Hollywood star uncle and his wife trawl the depths of London and New Yoik lll search of their gay son. A brash and sassy trans-contiiieiital. cultural cross- pollination \\ hich detoiiates stereotypes with perception and \y it.
I Captain Corelli‘s Mandolin Louis de Berniei‘es t.\liiiei\ a town .-\ for iiiei‘ liest of Young British Novelists. dc lieiiiiei‘es has created a work w ith all an of the
I classics. lll hitc-sI/e chunks. (‘oi‘elli is art ' ltaliaii officer posted to a (heck island lll I94] as part of the occupying lorces. Charming the locals and proving a skilled musician he also finds love as war Iooins
; can't deliver is contentment.
If all this sounds frightfully
: iniddlebrow. it is. However. Lodge’s
; skillful narration makes the plainness
? of the subject as beguiling as it can be and his wholly contemporary
5 observations on the state of Britain are welcome in a novel. though a tad heavy handed at times. The quality of narration is this book's biggest asset clipping along as it spins a fine web.
If. in these times of meltdown, therapy is what we all need. then Lodge's narrative may hit the spot; certainly it informs as it entertains and the reader is invited into a dialogue with the author. (l’aul Houghton)
SEDATED
‘ I Therapy David Lodge (Seeker & Warburg L‘ l 5) Lodge‘s protagonist is menopausal Laurence l’assmore. a TV sitcom writer with a gammy knee who leads an affluent if dissatisfied life in comfortable suburbia. He considers himself game for any therapy except chemotherapy (he already has a physiotherapist. cognitive behaviour therapist and aromathcrapist). In true reversal he has a vigorous sex life with his wife of 30 years and a platonic mistress in London with whom he can talk shop. What his many therapists :
Mel: ‘lt’s official - Ronnie Spector is a goddess. She‘s one of The nonettes, five toot beehive and Wall of Sound. Her story, Be My baby (written with Vince Waldron) satisfies all your rock ’n’ roll biog cravings - glitz, gossip, mandatory rage, booze and psycho husband. With chapters entitled ‘A Little More Mascara’ ‘Wigs On The Ceiling’ and ‘John, George Ringo and Mom’ you know you’ve hit a jackpot. I
read the last forty pages in floods of tears, flitting between a sauna and steambath. The book ended up a soggy
closer. I The Folding Star ’\l.lll llolliiighttrst (Vintage £5.99) Shortlisted for the I‘M-l
Booker l’i'i/e. this is .i saga ofobsession. charting the progress of lidward Manners. a gay. thirtysoinethiiig teacher seeking enlightenment in Belgium and finding love iii the form of his seventeen-year- charge via misplaced .tnd unsatisfying encounters. llolliiighuist e\ect:tes an excellent sense of place and mood btit. frankly. Manners is .i iii.i|oi irritant.
I What Men Say .loari Smith i\'iiitage £5.99) In the fourth l.oietta Iayyson novel. the amateur detective is slttt'ctl tlllo action when her pregnant best friend‘s housewaiiinng is disrupted by the
mess, but I felt I had added in a very GREAT i
real sense to Ronnie’s own tears and . sweat.’ I The Oxford Book Of Scottish Short : Sue: ‘The book most frequently in my Stories Edited by l)ouglas Dunn
line of vision at the moment is a porn room-ti £15.99) This is the most
epic from BlaCk Lace WhiCh Same "88 substantial anthology of short stories with a copy 0' New Woman. i don’t from Scotland to appear in some years. know what’s more embarrassing - the and as such should be welcomed. btit book itself, or the fact that someone with reservations. Including three
in my house bought a copy Of New 1 traditional folk tales. Dunn has i Woman to get it. The book nestles attempted to provide a comprehensive beside our toilet, and has proved to be . overview ot‘ the development of the '
ol(l
the perfect companion to my daily . short story in Scotland. Inevitany there i discovery of a rotting corpse in the barn. bowel evacuations. It’s called The are omissions such as Arthur Conan l Set among the academic classes. this is an Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. The Dovle. i ‘ «grits.in yarn m.- the «me ln l.a\\‘.soii. Bevrl, of course, Is a burly dark-haired Ranging through time and Space. from i Editor Douglashunn‘ ‘comprehenslve hi“ “NM! ‘l DWI-mum“ MN
man with no 0 Levels who spends his day grunting and sweating. The Deep Blue Sea bit refers to an ex-Etonian blonde-haired man with sea blue eyes and a passion for fine art. Hilary (feisty 90$ heroine ha-ha) has to choose between the two. Which she does after coupling with everything in trousers, skirts and dog blankets. Hmmm.’ (Ann Donald)
Scott's Highland drovers to .»\.l.. ; overview’ Kennedy‘s suburban trains. Dunn's life are shown in oblique form: the pure selection is heavily slanted towards the . sectarianism of llogg's (‘amei'onian current generation. probably for preacher reappearing iii mutated form commercial reasons. Women are in Alan Spence‘s ‘()range Walk‘. substantially represented. chiefly Dunn's introduction. longer than any among contemporary writers. Scots in story included. is a balanced account of all its forms is here. as well as English i Scottish writers' sporadic contribution bttt no (iaclic. to the development of the form. (John Some of the continuities iii Scottish Cilimc)’)
I Exposure Kathryn Harrison t-lth listate £5.99) .-\ prestigious New York photographer. .'\llll has followed in her father’s footsteps but is haunted by his esploita'ion of her childhood in his pornographic images. .-\tteinpts at exoi'cisiii push her to the edge. \\'ith a certain departure lounge novel quality which heightens the tension and seediness of the situation. lav/ironic is frank and unsettling. (Susan .\l.ic'l.t‘ll/lci
Plath”, “a he: dart /‘ I'll gentler/(d
1793117“? [710
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78 The List 2| Apr-J. May I995