It?s 1968, and Frannie and Doris, sisters and spinsters, are finally freed from family ties and constraints when their father dies. Taking off in their Plymouth Valiant they hit the road on a journey through the changing cultural landscape of America - civil rights marches, the assasinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. Frannie longs to return to the safety of her former reclusive life, but Doris just wants to raise hell and get laid. A touching, lyrical, and superbly crafted mid-life coming-of-age tale that ...
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It?s 1968, and Frannie and Doris, sisters and spinsters, are finally freed from family ties and constraints when their father dies. Taking off in their Plymouth Valiant they hit the road on a journey through the changing cultural landscape of America - civil rights marches, the assasinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. Frannie longs to return to the safety of her former reclusive life, but Doris just wants to raise hell and get laid. A touching, lyrical, and superbly crafted mid-life coming-of-age tale that was short-listed for the 1996 Orange Prize.
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Seller's Description:
Good. Good condition. 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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Seller's Description:
Used Good. Light wear to cover, slightly bumped corners, pages tanned but clean and unmarked. Firefly Bookstore sells items online and in our store front. We try to add images and descriptions when we can, but if you need additional information or photos of the books we list, please contact us.
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Signed First Printing. Tanning to pages. Near Fine condition. Pagan Kennedy (born c. 1963)[1] is an American columnist and author, and pioneer of the 1990s zine movement. [2] She has written ten books in a variety of genres, [3] was a regular contributor to the Boston Globe, and has published articles in dozens of magazines and newspapers. [4][5] In 2012-13, she was a New York Times Magazine columnist.
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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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Seller's Description:
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!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
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!
It is 1968 the day after Martin Luther King Jr is assassinated, Dora and Frannie?s father, passes away after a long illness. Shortly after, the sisters receive an invitation from their Aunt Katherine to live with her.
Living with their Aunt and her black maid Letty proves unfulfilling to the sisters. They decide to visit other relatives and this ultimately results in a road trip through America?s Southern states.
As is evident from my above rating this novella (its word count is only some 63000 words) is not something I could easily recommend.
It is an agreeable and easy read but this only damns the novella with faint praise. I found the book lacking in subtlety and depth. The motifs, allusions and symbols are writ large. The pacifist Martin Luther King Jr is killed while the next day the World War II conscientious objector father of Dora and Frannie dies. America is going through huge changes and turmoil; the Vietnam War, the anti war riots, the race riots, women?s liberation. These changes will irrevocably alter the country, politically, socially and culturally. America?s Baby Boomers were attempting to rip the country from the hands of the pre World War II old guard and pull the country into a modern world. These events are mirrored, in a smaller way of course, in the lives of the sisters. Dora is outgoing, sexually active, gregarious and believes in a brighter future. Frannie on the other hand is old fashioned, strait laced and clings to the past and its apparent certitude.
They drive through Texas but decide not to stop in this particular state due to the oppressive heat. Of course, even five years on the sound of bullets can still be heard reverberating around the Lone Star state.
The conclusions to the all the story threads that weave through the book are foreseeable and rather too neat for a book that uses the America in the 1960s as its backdrop. The Vietnam War raged on for another four years. Nixon became President in 1969 and his Waterloo was still four years away. The times were a changin? but the old guard still had a grip on the political rudder.
If one was to read The Spinsters as anything other than an allegorical novel then one could find it enjoyable. The author Pagan Kennedy does have an elegant, clear writing style that throws up some wonderful images, a ?saleslady whose hair was stiff as seven minute icing?.
Dora and Frannie?s feelings of entrapment, loneliness and isolation while caring for their father will resonant with many people in an age where one in four people in the UK care for an elderly parent. The handling of this particular issue is what would earn the novella an extra half a mark.
