Plain Pleasures

As I never get tired of repeating, because it is so deliciously offensive to modern ears, Jane Bowles humorous self-invented nickname was Crippie the Kike Dyke, due to the fact that she had a tubercular leg that they had to fuse (don’t ask) so it didn’t bend. That was the Crippie bit, the rest of it......more

Relato breve sobre el cual no se sabe nada prácticamente hasta que no llegas al punto final. Desconoces las intenciones del autor y del mensaje que quiere lanzarnos. Nos presenta una protagonista totalmente enigmática, pero claramente anticipada a su tiempo y reivindicativa de la causa feminista. El......more

'Although the sun had sunk behind the houses, the sky was still luminous and the blue of the wall had deepened. She rubbed her fingers along it: the wash was fresh and a little of the powdery stuff came off. And she remembered how once she had reached out to touch the face of a clown because it had......more

I loved this. The eccentric women in stories written with an almost perfect clarity. The singular vision, the buoyancy, the unpredictability, the darkly gleaming energy. These stories, like her novel Two Serious Ladies, are simultaneously disturbing and delightful. Almost absurd but deadly serious. F......more

There are books that I have read and didn't really Get. A few of the stories in this collection by Jane Bowles I didn't really 'Get' either, but rather than tossing the book aside and blowing out my cheeks because some pretentious magic realism author wasted 10 hours of my life while I read his book......more