What do You think about My Sister's Hand In Mine: The Collected Works Of Jane Bowles (2005)?
hmmm. i wanted to love this collection of her works. her writing is so involved with the relationships b/t people, especially women. the action lies b/t people, intriguing and unexpected responses to situations and her characters never do (act) what you think they will. that is where the greatness lies. but the reading can get a little tedious, which is what kept me from falling in love with her writings. and perhaps, reading paul bowles prior to jane bowles - as their styles/subject matter is/are completely different.
—Wendy
I was really digging "Two Serious Ladies" and then it abruptly ended. I wanted more, but will have to go back and read it again. Synopsis: Two women of a certain age in a certain time unravel. No one is listening to them, or seeing them, and they strike out on their own, not knowing where they are going or how to get there. A strange and haunting story, it evokes a time when women had few choices and were branded as strange or hysterical if they didn't step in formation. And "Two Serious Ladies" made me enjoy dialog again. It's basically a story of two ladies talking, no one listening, and what happens when they try to make their own way.
—Kim Wyatt
Just finished the first book, "Two Serious Ladies." My first reaction was just that I was so surprised that it ended when it did. Christina Goering is our main lady and we are first introduced to her in juxtaposition with her more proper sister. Then as an independently wealthy adult, she moves into a house in the country with a woman and a male friend and continues to move further and further away from her beginnings to cities, slumming around with random men, etc. A long section is also spent on Mrs. Copperfield and her vacation to Panama, her obsession with a young local lady, and the desire to keep her as a companion.The rest of this collection includes a play (not my favorite form of fiction), some short stories, and some unfinished work (which I didn't read). While some of the short stories were quite good, I think the strongest inclusion is the novella at the beginning, described above.
—Amy
