<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: poetic suffering as only lau can do it
Review: i keep trying to convince myself this isn't in our universe. why would a brilliant, successful woman totally destroy herself in every way possible for the attentions of a man who cares nothing for her? yet the ride along the way is compelling, poetic, sometimes comic and terrifying. not so much a story as an enumeration of ways to suffer and feel wretched. the line about the ethereal feeling she gets from throwing up 3 times in one evening still haunts me.
Rating: 
Summary: Everyday life for some
Review: My friend sent me this book a few days ago. I opened it's pages and begin to read. I began relating to this character, and seeing her as myself for a bit there. I felt like I was inside this story. Fiona, the main character or main character emphasis--is a desperate woman in love with a married man. Not totally unbelieveable...it happens everyday. The narraitve voice Evelyn Lau takes as this character is very vivid and honest.this is a very alive, and hip piece of new age writing. It surpasses most fiction, mainly because it has a emotional fixation with the reader, you are either angry, depressed, happy or totally miffed at the aftions of each character. Raymond, Fiona's love whom is married, will not leave his wife of 15 years for Fiona and woman he has never even sexual intercourse with. Fiona in a desperate attempt to persue Raymond and make her dream of eternal love with him ends up becoming an alcoholic...she spends most of hert time doting and thinking of him. Every man she sees reminds her of Raymond...nothing wrong with that. Is it mere obsession or real love? Who knows...I won't tell my opinion... The lyrical aspect of each sentence keeps you engrossed the whole time, and you almost want more when you finish. i loved her wording, and her narritive voice...very powerful and different I must say!
Rating:
Summary: Everyday life for some
Review: My friend sent me this book a few days ago. I opened it's pages and begin to read. I began relating to this character, and seeing her as myself for a bit there. I felt like I was inside this story. Fiona, the main character or main character emphasis--is a desperate woman in love with a married man. Not totally unbelieveable...it happens everyday. The narraitve voice Evelyn Lau takes as this character is very vivid and honest. this is a very alive, and hip piece of new age writing. It surpasses most fiction, mainly because it has a emotional fixation with the reader, you are either angry, depressed, happy or totally miffed at the aftions of each character. Raymond, Fiona's love whom is married, will not leave his wife of 15 years for Fiona and woman he has never even sexual intercourse with. Fiona in a desperate attempt to persue Raymond and make her dream of eternal love with him ends up becoming an alcoholic...she spends most of hert time doting and thinking of him. Every man she sees reminds her of Raymond...nothing wrong with that. Is it mere obsession or real love? Who knows...I won't tell my opinion... The lyrical aspect of each sentence keeps you engrossed the whole time, and you almost want more when you finish. i loved her wording, and her narritive voice...very powerful and different I must say!
Rating: 
Summary: Crystal clear, emotional image of an "Other Woman" figure
Review: The novel, Other Women, illustrates the pathetic situation of a single woman's unrequited love for a married man. Fiona, a young twenty-something artist meets a married man, Raymond, a powerful and socially prominent CEO who is old enough to be her father. His business deals require him to travel often, and the two of them begin a year or two of meetings in various hotels in different cities and in Fiona's apartment. Raymond never considers their relationship as anything more than a diversion. To him she is just as a playmate. Much of the physical intimacy they have is more like that of a prostitute and john, not like lovers. Early on in the relationship he even asked her if she had found a man yet. Raymond tells her how much he loves his wife. Fiona has fallen so hard and so deep for the man that she ignores these and other many other negative signals. Later, after Raymond tells her point blank that he will never leave his wife, she still persists. Once Fiona understands the importance of Raymond's wife to him, she becomes obsessed with her. This is because Fiona wants to be her. In her fantasies she physically destroys Raymond's wife so she can take his place. The book has a very poetic feel. The style is slightly reminiscent of a journal, in a good way. Much of it is in the present tense. Much of what Fiona says toward or about Raymond is said in his absence, in the second person. It suggests an inner dialogue. It is as if the affair was in the past and Fiona is reliving it emotionally. In the beginning of the book, the style seems a little awkward, but the frequent images and metaphors are consistently excellent and carry the reader very well. The use of the second person in addressing Raymond works very well also. Past the mid-point of the book, I felt impelled to find out how Fiona's situation would get resolved. At the beginning of the story, in my mind, I condemned Fiona for her lack of ethics and poor judgement. But mid-way through I began to have some sympathize for her, as it became clear she was a prisoner of her own emotions. Eventually, the almost unendurable pain forces Fiona to face the reality of the situation. Once she accepted it, her infatuation broke. What more can we expect from a person than to learn from their experiences?
Rating:
Summary: Crystal clear, emotional image of an "Other Woman" figure
Review: The novel, Other Women, illustrates the pathetic situation of a single woman's unrequited love for a married man. Fiona, a young twenty-something artist meets a married man, Raymond, a powerful and socially prominent CEO who is old enough to be her father. His business deals require him to travel often, and the two of them begin a year or two of meetings in various hotels in different cities and in Fiona's apartment. Raymond never considers their relationship as anything more than a diversion. To him she is just as a playmate. Much of the physical intimacy they have is more like that of a prostitute and john, not like lovers. Early on in the relationship he even asked her if she had found a man yet. Raymond tells her how much he loves his wife. Fiona has fallen so hard and so deep for the man that she ignores these and other many other negative signals. Later, after Raymond tells her point blank that he will never leave his wife, she still persists. Once Fiona understands the importance of Raymond's wife to him, she becomes obsessed with her. This is because Fiona wants to be her. In her fantasies she physically destroys Raymond's wife so she can take his place. The book has a very poetic feel. The style is slightly reminiscent of a journal, in a good way. Much of it is in the present tense. Much of what Fiona says toward or about Raymond is said in his absence, in the second person. It suggests an inner dialogue. It is as if the affair was in the past and Fiona is reliving it emotionally. In the beginning of the book, the style seems a little awkward, but the frequent images and metaphors are consistently excellent and carry the reader very well. The use of the second person in addressing Raymond works very well also. Past the mid-point of the book, I felt impelled to find out how Fiona's situation would get resolved. At the beginning of the story, in my mind, I condemned Fiona for her lack of ethics and poor judgement. But mid-way through I began to have some sympathize for her, as it became clear she was a prisoner of her own emotions. Eventually, the almost unendurable pain forces Fiona to face the reality of the situation. Once she accepted it, her infatuation broke. What more can we expect from a person than to learn from their experiences?
Rating:
Summary: Amazing precision, horrifying accuracy
Review: The reason I still have not changed my mind about Lau's talent even after long since she came out as a former runaway-a child hooker was her frightening greed for language, period. That is what makes her work transcend every category she could fall in and makes it more universal. It is universal, indeed.
In Other Women, I was entirely amazed by her tanacious observation and staying power to translate the almost physically brutal pang of loving somebody who is beyond her reach into the art of language. As usual, she possesses the gesture of the proud masochist, which has been her turf. I often suspected if it is the stance she had developed out of the helplessness in her childhood/teenage days with no choice. She seemed to be growing into such a complexed young woman who'd get mixed up with paternal protection and manly affection of which she did not know to seek after. That is what caused the fatal obsession Fiona had with Raymond.
The way Fiona fell and got desperate was precisely described and examined by the prose that made every trivial scene appear different and fresh, even the cliche of affair an older man who never leaves his marriage could have counting on some kind of fidelity of a young woman who is drowning in the emotion.
Even the cruelty was beautifully woven by her poetic and poised art of language. The highlight of the whole novel, however, was the shocking disclosure of the fact how lonely and unsatisfied people are, no matter who you are, men, women, married and unmarried. The discovery was solely attributed to the persepective of Lau's, who's distanced from the regular social structure, this time, marriage. Contemplating on being a mistress and taking a close look at marriage from outside the institution that regulates people's desire gave the work the enormous insight that reveals the puzzlement almost everybody seems to experience behind the content front, including the author herself.
I have got the impression that Lau might be the kind of writer who gets oneself burned to see and know what it feels like just to write it real. This is the work the guts resulted. It is the valuable documentation of the modern day theme we are doomed to face; Alienation is universal. Lau never falied to report it with grace and brutality of her art of suffering.
<< 1 >>
| 
