"Susan Choi...proves herself a natural--a writer whose intelligence and historical awareness effortlessly serve a breathtaking narrative ability. I couldn't put American Woman down, and wanted when I finished it to do nothing but read it again." --Joan Didion A novel of impressive scope and complexity, " American Woman is a thoughtful, meditative interrogation of...history and politics, of power and racism, and finally, of radicalism." ( San Francisco Chronicle ), perfect for readers who love Emma Cline's novel, The ...
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"Susan Choi...proves herself a natural--a writer whose intelligence and historical awareness effortlessly serve a breathtaking narrative ability. I couldn't put American Woman down, and wanted when I finished it to do nothing but read it again." --Joan Didion A novel of impressive scope and complexity, " American Woman is a thoughtful, meditative interrogation of...history and politics, of power and racism, and finally, of radicalism." ( San Francisco Chronicle ), perfect for readers who love Emma Cline's novel, The Girls. On the lam for an act of violence against the American government, 25-year-old Jenny Shimada agrees to care for three younger fugitives whom a shadowy figure from her former radical life has spirited out of California. One of them, the kidnapped granddaughter of a wealthy newspaper magnate in San Francisco, has become a national celebrity for embracing her captors' ideology and joining their revolutionary cell. " A brilliant read ... astonishing in its honesty and confidence," ( Denver Post ) American Woman explores the psychology of the young radicals, the intensity of their isolated existence, and the paranoia and fear that undermine their ideals.
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Good. Good condition. Good dust jacket. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.
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Good. DUST JACKET HAS SOME MINOR SHELF WEAR BUT BOOK REMAINS IN GOOD READABLE CONDITION. Hardcover This item shows wear from consistent use but remains in good readable condition. It may have marks on or in it, and may show other signs of previous use or shelf wear. May have minor creases or signs of wear on dust jacket. Packed with care, shipped promptly.
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Very Good. First edition copy. Collectible-Very Good. Very Good dust jacket. From the library of American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter William Safire. (psychological fiction)
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As New in Very Good jacket. Book. Signed by Author(s) This book is Signed by the Author on the title page. This book is in As New condition and appears to have had little if any use. The dust jacket is in very good condition with bumps, scuffs and small edge tears. There is a sticker on the front cover that reads: "Autographed Copy"
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Like Don DeLillo's Libra and E.L. Doctorow's Book of Daniel, American Woman, by Susan Choi, is a remarkable feat of the historical imagination. A fictional retelling of the notorious 1974 kidnapping of the newspaper heiress Patty Hearst by the revolutionary Symbionese Liberation Army, the novel's focal point is the deepening relationship between Pauline, the Hearst surrogate, and Jenny Shimada, an anti-war radical who is enlisted by organizer Rob Frazier to assist the three surviving cadre members following a police shootout and to encourage them to write a book.
In describing their life underground and on the lam, Choi is largely faithful to the public facts of the Hearst case, while exploring the nexus of race and class, and the intergenerational schisms that radicalize both Jenny and Pauline. With Pauline, Juan and Yvonne, the other members, constitute a kind of dogmatic triad that initially excludes Jenny. Juan exerts his domination over the women, initiates paramilitary exercises, and plans to rob a local merchant to supplement their dwindling funds.
Choi offers an utterly persuasive portrait of their fugitive existence in a remote farmhouse in upstate New York: its stupor and desperation and isolation, the cadre's codes and guises, the fear and paranoia that slowly unhinges, the moral rectitude and righteousness that erodes particularly in Jenny, and the intentions gone tragically awry.
Yet for all that, the author neither affirms nor condemns so much as she shines a clarifying psychological light on her characters: Pauline, at once insulated by privilege and something of a disappointment to her family, is left susceptible to the cadre's indoctrination, while Jenny is indirectly a product of her father's aggrievement over the World War II internment of Japanese Americans.
As critic Sven Birkerts noted, Jenny Shimada is likely the eponymous title character, the "American woman," whose claim to Americanness is at best provisional: Juan considers her of the "Third World," while she insists on her California upbringing; her father takes her to Japan after internment, effecting yet another dislocation; she grows up envying the glamour of the privileged class. If Pauline's story is one of metamorphosis and ultimately reversion, Jenny's marginality, her bitter familial inheritance, her radicalism, and her outlaw anonymity expose the tributaries that bleed off the placid surface of the American mainstream. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, American Woman is a major contemporary novel and highly recommended.
