Re: JCO: Female of the Species -- WATCH OUT some plots discussed.

Cyrano,

 

I hadn't had a chance to read any of those stories before I bought the collection, but you are right-----certainly a strong theme in there that the rich are cruisin' for a bruisin', as you say.  I did wonder about the end of "Hunger," which seemed a little ambiguous to me----is she going to let the young man kill her husband, or is she going to kill the young man, in order to free herself from him?  Either way, though, it certainly doesn't change your main point, the emphasis on just how horrible the rich can be.......

 

Christa

Re: JCO: Female of the Species -- WATCH OUT some plots discussed.

I'd already read many of the stories in this collection when they appeared in
various magazines. Seeing them all together this weekend, however, I was
stuck by the anxiety and distress expressed over American affluence and
wastefulness. Stories like "Hunger" -- rich wife colludes with the feral-catlike
street guy who wants to kill her wealthy Bostonian husband for his insurance. Or
the truly nasty "Madison at Guignol" (the title says it all) in which a
wealthy, idle Manhattan woman is assulted by the staff of a pricey boutique and
ritually slaughtered -- convey a lot of guilt about the greedy obtuseness of rich
people and how they're cruisin' for a bruisin".
Has anyone else out there read this book yet?
Cyrano
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