About Yvonne
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Book Overview
An edgy tour de force about the nature of obsession--and an auspicious debut by a dazzling literary talent--About Yvonne negotiates between the Soho art world and the Upper West Side, a Jesuit retreat house and psychotherapy, to illuminate the dim and fragmented terrain of an uncertain life.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0393040917
ISBN13:9780393040913
Release Date:January 1997
Publisher:W. W. Norton & Company
Length:303 Pages
Weight:1.14 lbs.
Dimensions:1.1" x 5.8" x 8.6"
Customer Reviews
5 ratings
Psychological insight -- real and uncensored
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 20 years ago
Just finished it. Loved it! Masini has explored with uncommon honesty what it feels like to be lost, to be obsessed, to be haunted by the fact that one's beloved is sleeping with another. Her language never hits a false note. I didn't see this as a "New York book" but as a tale about what goes on inside the mind of someone not capable of thinking clearly at the moment. I found the narrator, the central character, to be utterly believable and real. Just the right amount of suspense, and just the right amount of redemption (not much, but enough).
wonderful writing style
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
After reading "about yvonne" I was interested in Donna Masini's poetry and purchased that book also--EXCELLENT! As far as the comments about the artist/art galleries not being "realistic" that person has not been to a variety of NYC galleries--what can pass for a gallery here is mind numbing--I've seen it all, from expensive clown paintings selling on the upper east side to student shows that were so tired-- more penis paintings... to great stuff in unexpected places But anyone truly into art, doesn't really judge so I won't judge Masini's gallery. It's a personal experience thing, when you write, and Masini writes so personally that you feel you are her--someone famous once said that to be really into reading a novel, you have to be able to live inside the novel as you read it-- I was right there, eating Pastina and listening to Dylan with Masini--and altho I am not Catholic I was there with her and the priest and was scared. I felt thrilled and scared to be inside Yvonne's apartment too--her writing is that great When does her next book hit the stores?????????
a new york book
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
as a New Yorker myself, I felt Masini's Manhattan to be very realistic. So many people write about NYC, yet you really cannot know the place until you've lived here for many years--Masini growing up in a borough also helped the book. Her NYC is the real thing, her writing is a blend of suspense and erotica. I look forward to her future novels.
A book filled with energy and pain
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
Donna Masini is a great writer. I loved her characters and especially how she showed the pain and confusion of the main character. When we go through periods of anguish we do become self-absorbed (and perhaps to the insensitive, we are shallow) this book is intense and filled with energy.
One of the best books written in the last few decades.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 26 years ago
Donna Masini's "About Yvonne" is one of the best books that I have read. I actually became absorbed in Terry's world never quite knowing what she would do next yet feeling that we shared the exact same emotions. Donna Masini is one of the most gifted American writers that I have come across in the past few years. Though the characters' language can be coarse, Masini's writing never loses its flowing, beautiful quality. Terry Spera is a unique literary creation in that she is a stalker who knows that she hunts her husband's possible lover, knows its wrong and yet in clandestine rebellion she is proud of her actions. I cannot wait until her next novel or next book of poetry is published, and I am sure that I will devour it the same way that I have "About Yvonne".
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