Pages:
228
Original
date of publication: 1935
My
edition: 200 (Vintage)
Why
I decided to read:
How
I acquired my copy: The Strand, NYC, July 2011
BUtterfield
8 is based on a true story. In this novel O’Hara tries to imagine what that
young girl’s life might have been like. Gloria Wandrous is a party girl,
familiar with the speakeasies and clubs of 1920s New York City. She falls in
with a married man and spends one night at his apartment—after which she steals
his wife’s fur coat. The theft leads to tragedy.
I
liked the idea of the novel, but I thought it was confusing and illogical in
several places; I agree with a previous reviewer who said that the relationship
between Gloria and Weston Liggett didn’t seem believable. The relationship
started too quickly and seemed less like a relationship and more like
lust/physical attraction; I didn’t buy for a second that he was in love with
her.
The
tone of the novel feels very frenetic and sex-charged, probably due to the
intensity of Gloria’s personality and the suddenness of her friendship with
Liggett. I found that I really didn’t care for her too much; she was too
self-absorbed and too attached to physical pleasure to be truly likeable.
O’Hara also introduced some characters who seem to be completely superfluous to
the whole point of the book. I also thought that the ending of the book was a
let-down; the author builds his reader up for something much more interesting
and all we get is… disappointment. The premise is good, though.
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