Basic Black with Pearls

Written in 1980, this cult classic is a noirish portrait of Shirley, aka Lola Montes, who travels the world for clandestine assignations with her spy/lover, Coenraad. Momentarily, for me anyway, her latest destination, Toronto, made me wonder if anything would even happen! Toronto, if you don't know, is the home to the most boring people on the face of the planet. Any city inhabited by depressives, who counter their morbid despair with a grim alcoholism, makes for a bleak backdrop! I blame the terrible weather! However, this dense, textured story picks up momentum with the memories of other happier places in other times. Soon the reader knows Shirley's entire story, and it is not a happy one! Eventually, and this is the novel's beauty, show more a feminist subtext emerges: lives that are supposed to follow a preordined route -- girlhood, marriage, motherhood, dotage -- can be programmed to accomplish other, greater achievements. Or can they? The finale is first rate! show less

Escaping into Another World

Helen Weinzweig’s novel blends stream of conscious, absurdism, and existentialism into a disconcerting look at a women escaping into another world created by herself in her own mind. She’s escaping a marriage that by all appearances suffers from what many marriages do, boredom, and the repression of one’s own identity in fulfillment of a role.

The novel opens with Shirley in the guise of her alter ego Lola Montez (an actual person who lived in the 19th century as a courtesan and adventurer) reminiscing about spending time in the tropics with her lover. He goes by the name of Coenraad, of Dutch descent, who works as an international spy for an organization called the Agency. When he summons Shirley/Lola, show more she leaves her home in Toronto, her husband and children, and goes where he directs her. He passes the location of their trysts in codes in the National Geographic. This time he has called her to Toronto, not only her current home, but also the hometown in which she grew up after her mother brought her to Canada. Mysteriously, he hasn’t left a National Geographic for her, but instead a study on elm tree disease that coincides with a botanist convention at the hotel she checks into. She spends the rest of the novel wandering the streets of Toronto searching for the Elm Street where she expects to meet him. Readers learn quickly that Coenraad doesn’t exist, at least not in the real world, and later that she has experienced this type of disassociation from reality before, even had been hospitalized for it.

Her search in the days before the start of the weekend takes her to the various places, shops, factories, offices, and the like, as well as residences, that made up her life as a child and young woman. She also recounts many of her encounters with Coenraad, where they met, how they made love, and snippets of their conversations, though Coenraad proved to be on the taciturn side. In the hotel, after much wandering, she talks up the botanists and she and one, Andy, begin an affair. And this might just be reality. For after she meets Andy, she returns home to her husband Zbigniew. There she meets and talks with Francesca. Francesca has assumed her role as companion to Zbigniew and caregiver to her children. She tells her husband’s history and dwells on his love of his horse and the quiet time he enjoys in the family room, alone, perusing the newspapers on Sundays, which provides a window into how she views their relationship. Francesca and she discuss Zbigniew, concluding that among other things he is an honorable man. Francesca is happy to care for him, as she needs no more than the security he provides. Readers will understand that Shirley and Francesca are the same person. And it’s during this visit that Shirley comes to a realization about herself, about seeking her own fulfillment and joy. As a symbol of this, she leaves her black dress and pearls behind, choosing to wear a colorful dress suitable for the emerging Springtime, as she departs for Andy’s apartment.

In many ways, the novel probably reflects Weinzweig’s own life, especially the idea of subordinating her own life to that of another’s. She did not begin writing until into her fifties. She was married to John Weinzweig, a renowned Canadian composer, and as his wife supported his career and him while raising their two sons. For more about her, read her obit in The Globe and Mail. show less

Escaping into Another World

Helen Weinzweig’s novel blends stream of conscious, absurdism, and existentialism into a disconcerting look at a women escaping into another world created by herself in her own mind. She’s escaping a marriage that by all appearances suffers from what many marriages do, boredom, and the repression of one’s own identity in fulfillment of a role.

The novel opens with Shirley in the guise of her alter ego Lola Montez (an actual person who lived in the 19th century as a courtesan and adventurer) reminiscing about spending time in the tropics with her lover. He goes by the name of Coenraad, of Dutch descent, who works as an international spy for an organization called the Agency. When he summons Shirley/Lola, show more she leaves her home in Toronto, her husband and children, and goes where he directs her. He passes the location of their trysts in codes in the National Geographic. This time he has called her to Toronto, not only her current home, but also the hometown in which she grew up after her mother brought her to Canada. Mysteriously, he hasn’t left a National Geographic for her, but instead a study on elm tree disease that coincides with a botanist convention at the hotel she checks into. She spends the rest of the novel wandering the streets of Toronto searching for the Elm Street where she expects to meet him. Readers learn quickly that Coenraad doesn’t exist, at least not in the real world, and later that she has experienced this type of disassociation from reality before, even had been hospitalized for it.

Her search in the days before the start of the weekend takes her to the various places, shops, factories, offices, and the like, as well as residences, that made up her life as a child and young woman. She also recounts many of her encounters with Coenraad, where they met, how they made love, and snippets of their conversations, though Coenraad proved to be on the taciturn side. In the hotel, after much wandering, she talks up the botanists and she and one, Andy, begin an affair. And this might just be reality. For after she meets Andy, she returns home to her husband Zbigniew. There she meets and talks with Francesca. Francesca has assumed her role as companion to Zbigniew and caregiver to her children. She tells her husband’s history and dwells on his love of his horse and the quiet time he enjoys in the family room, alone, perusing the newspapers on Sundays, which provides a window into how she views their relationship. Francesca and she discuss Zbigniew, concluding that among other things he is an honorable man. Francesca is happy to care for him, as she needs no more than the security he provides. Readers will understand that Shirley and Francesca are the same person. And it’s during this visit that Shirley comes to a realization about herself, about seeking her own fulfillment and joy. As a symbol of this, she leaves her black dress and pearls behind, choosing to wear a colorful dress suitable for the emerging Springtime, as she departs for Andy’s apartment.

In many ways, the novel probably reflects Weinzweig’s own life, especially the idea of subordinating her own life to that of another’s. She did not begin writing until into her fifties. She was married to John Weinzweig, a renowned Canadian composer, and as his wife supported his career and him while raising their two sons. For more about her, read her obit in The Globe and Mail. show less

why are so many female protagonists in classic feminist literature insane? The answer is so sad when you think about the restrictive lives women led in the past.

In this novel, we see Shirley travelling the world meeting her secret agent lover in exotic places. What an adventurous life she lives! As the story goes on, we begin to wonder if everything...or anything...is as it seems. It becomes harder to tell what's real for a while, then insights come and suddenly we know more about Shirley's life than we realized. This is accomplished through masterful storytelling and great writing. I loved it.

It took me less than a month, but more than two weeks, to read this brief novel; it's incredibly interior-oriented, which isn't a bad thing, but it didn't allow for lazy, quick reading. Our narrator, Shirley, is clever, and you can't be sloppy to keep up with her.

The feel of this novel is Erica Jong meets Kate Chopin. Shirley is a smart, passionate 40-something housewife who travels the world meeting her spy lover.

But their latest tryst takes her back to Toronto, where she grew up and still lives, and as we watch Shirley attempt to untangle the clues that will connect her with her lover, we start to wonder just how much of this might be real.

And yet, that's not precisely the point of this novel. In her pursuit of her lover, we're show more exposed to Shirley's entire life -- her childhood, her marriage, her anxieties and hopes -- and a complicated-but-familiar portrait emerges. By the end, I found myself wanting happiness for Shirley, and I was unconcerned with what was real and what was imaginary. I just wanted her happy.

I feel sorry for the girl who (still) wanders darkening streets carrying two or three library books, shifting them now and against from left arm to right and back again. Sometimes both arms hold the books across her chest like a shield. They belong together, she and her books, and as long as she carries them, she is safe. The writers of books will become her familiars and protect her from betrayal.

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Well, I did read this. I didn't have much of a reaction to it--not even enough to write a real review. Wrong book at wrong time, or perhaps I am just struggling in general with reading right now. I don't seem to have a lot of focus. In any event, this book did not speak to me, I'm sorry to say.