17. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee - Rebecca Miller
My mum lent this to me; at first I was a bit unenthused, as the photo makes it look a bit like chick lit, which as we all know is the worst kind of 'lit' (except possibly misery lit, that's pretty vile as well). However, as it's by Arthur Miller's daughter I gave it a go out of interest, and it's actually very good - extremely well-written, clever and genuine. It's pretty action-packed (lots of affairs, quite a bit of sex, a touch of sadomasochism...) but it doesn't seem over the top at all; I actually thought it felt very balanced, with almost sparse use of detail at points. Her characterisation of Pippa is excellent, and she writes really well about the tensions of mother-daughter relationships. It's uplifting, in a bittersweet way. I should probably write something profound about having learnt my lesson about judging a book by its cover now, but I know I will continue to do so, so instead I give you this quote: "You're the Chicklet, not me!" - Gob Bluth.
No comments:
Post a Comment