Kay's Bookshelf

Due to this being only a novella the characters are probably a bit less fleshed than the could have been. Nevertheless I think the author did a great job in portraying them. It was a bit amusing actually to see the antithesis between the “perfect” wives (their only interest in the world being to have the house always spotlessly clean) and the “others”, the normal ones (with normal houses, messy now and then, and also with normal interests outside the home). I liked the way the whole book seemed to say “I’ll take personality over extreme cleanness every day”, by always emphasizing the differences between the two. Just think that, for example, all the latest female newcomers in town are likable and easy to relate to: from Joanna herself, to smart mouthed Bobbie (my favorite), to their friend Charmaine who couldn’t help mentioning star signs about every sentence or so, to children’s books author Ruthanne. All very opposite to the rest of the Stepford wives, with so little personality one couldn’t tell them apart.

On the whole, while what happened to the poor town women saddened and scared me a little, what crept me out the most was the change in the men. Both Joanna’s family and Bobbie’s were happy ones when first moving in to town, with husbands that were both understanding and supportive to their wives. The very idea of them turning (seemingly) all of a sudden into, after all, their exact opposite (so much so that they never hesitated in doing bad things to the very people they previously swore to love and to cherish) made me more uncomfortable than everything else. Joanna and Walter entered the story as a tight team, going strong — no more than a few months later that team’s members ended up in arms, one against the other, leaving Joanna no one to turn to when the need arose. So very sad.

What I liked most: The very idea the book is based on — quite an original one for the 70s (or at least so it seems to me). I am also amused at the fact that the book and its subsequent movies have so made their way in the public consciousness that the term “Stepford wife” has actually entered common use :)

What I liked least: It’s not that big a deal but I find it a bit hard to believe that no one ever wondered what happens back then, when women first started changing. From the newspaper articles Joanna read at the library we can see it was a gradual change, how come no one started worrying seeing more and more of their acquaintances radically different from one day to another? (it can be argued, of course, that perhaps some women did worry and they either left or were forced into silence — either way, as I said, it’s not that big a deal and it doesn’t affect the story flow at all).

Recommend it to? Everyone. It’s a short and captivating read.


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Popularity: 4% [?]

Coraline is the kind of girl that I do not doubt any child wants to be: daring and smart. A bit too daring to be believed actually (many things she went through were too spooky for me, I mean if I am to imagine myself (a grown-up) in the same conditions I would have reacted way way way worse :) ). Her smarts are up to the par too (just look at the scene where she parted with the “other mother” last). She seems a bit more mature than her age (and her neighbors downstairs agree with me), a trait most visible when she says “What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted?” (I know lots of people who have yet to grasp this simple truth and was happy to see Coraline thinking like this, a breath of fresh air). The parents are very busy people but I had the feeling that they really loved Coraline, despite their lack of attention to her every now and then. My favorite was her father, a passionate wannabe cook (something new in books, LOL), always trying out a new recipe and never getting it right :)

The animal characters were just as interesting. It goes without saying that I have absolutely loved the black cat, especially at her most vulnerable moment (because she was acting like every cat in need of protection does and I was glad to see Coraline offering her the protection she needed). I have also loved the singing mice of the neighbor upstairs (although it is not clear to me how they did know about the door and how they managed to talk to their “human carer” about it), and the very idea of them playing their little instruments with their little pink fingers (plus the fact that they didn’t like the rain because it made their whiskers droop) was both interesting and amusing for me (although I am not into mice, those particular ones seemed quite cool :) ).

It was very captivating for me to observe the world the other mother created: the painting of a bowl of fruit becoming a painting of a bowl of eaten fruit (“all that remained in the bowl was the browning core of an apple, several plum and peach stones, and the stem of what had formerly been a bunch of grapes“); the lion-pawed table clawing at the floor; the moving toys (with feelings too); the neighbors downstairs transformed into their younger selves (“Then they unbuttoned their fluffy round coats and opened them. But their coats weren’t all that opened: their faces opened, too, like empty shells, and out of the old empty fluffy round bodies stepped two young women.“); the house losing the details and becoming a sketch, and so on.

What I liked most: So many things I have trouble choosing. To pick a random two, the quote at the beginning:

Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.
—G. K. Chesterton

and this:

“Oh. It’s you,” she said to the black cat.
“See?” said the cat. “It wasn’t so hard recognizing me, was it? Even without names.”
“Well, what if I wanted to call you?”
The cat wrinkled its nose and managed to look unimpressed. “Calling cats,” it confided, “tends to be a rather overrated activity. Might as well call a whirlwind.”
“What if it was dinnertime?” asked Coraline. “Wouldn’t you want to be called then?”
“Of course,” said the cat. “But a simple cry of ‘dinner!’ would do nicely. See? No need for names.”

What I liked least: Nothing. Too short a book and too charming for me to find it any fault. :)

Recommend it? Yes, absolutely, it’s very captivating and it’s quite short too.

Written by the same author:
American Gods
Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett)
The Graveyard Book
Snow, Glass, Apples
Stardust
Neverwhere

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Popularity: 9% [?]

We are not told very much about the narrator, not even his name. We only know about him that he’s a struggling aspiring writer. As for Holly… I couldn’t fit her in any pattern :) She is a rather interesting person, always on the lookout for a place where she could belong, an as yet unknown place that will make her as happy as Tiffany does.

I was surprised to find it quite different from the movie. Including the ending. However, while I did like the happy-ever-after Hollywood version, I think this one is a better fit for Holly, as she kept traveling in search for her secret place. At least the cat ended up happily: “Flanked by potted plants and framed by clean lace curtains, he was seated in the window of a warm-looking room: I wondered what his name was, for I was certain he had one now, certain he’d arrived somewhere he belonged.”

Some say this book is written in relation to Marylin Monroe’s life (especially as the author and her were friends not to mention Capote wanted her to play Holly in the movie).

A quote, explaining both the title and a very important part of Holly:

She was still hugging the cat. “Poor slob,” she said, tickling his head, “poor slob without a name. It’s a little inconvenient, his not having a name. But I haven’t any right to give him one: he’ll have to wait until he belongs to somebody. We just sort of took up by the river one day, we don’t belong to each other: he’s an independent, and so am I. I don’t want to own anything until I know I’ve found the place where me and things belong together. I’m not quite sure where that is just yet. But I know what it’s like.” She smiled, and let the cat drop to the floor. “It’s like Tiffany’s,” she said.
[...]
It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany’s, then I’d buy some furniture and give the cat a name.

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Popularity: 3% [?]