What do you think?
Rate this book
Nine Months in the Life of an Old Maid
Suddenly aware of her emotions and needs as a woman, Elizabeth Cane must try to free herself from her childhood nightmares and the sheltered fantasy world that has always been her home
- GenresFiction
Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
7 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Judith Rossner
21Ìýbooks67ÌýfollowersJudith Perelman Rossner was an American novelist, best known for her 1975 novel Looking for Mr. Goodbar, which was inspired by the murder of Roseann Quinn and examined the underside of the seventies sexual liberation movement. Though Looking for Mr. Goodbar remained Rossner's best known and best selling work, she continued to write. Her most successful post-Goodbar novel was 1983's August, about the relationship between a troubled young woman and her psychoanalyst who has emotional troubles of her own.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 23, 2019
Quick read. Two sisters living together, one with “mental issues.� Kind of interesting that Beth never leaves the house and is the one so dependent on everyone. By the end of the book, you find out that’s not the case.
December 20, 2022
Wow. This was intense and interesting and hypnotic and I feel like having a passionate discussion with someone else who's read this book about the characters, things left unspoken, things hinted at.
There's so much to say. Firstly, this book stalked me. Oddly for an obscurish oldish (1969) novel, it kept jumping at me from the secondhand bookstore shelf for months and I kept putting it back, somewhat put off by the blurb (which turned out to be slightly inaccurate anyway), only to get sucked in by a 25c library sale based on the title alone, forgetting that I had considered and ignored this book previously.
The blurb says it's about two adult sisters Mimi and Beth who live together in a mansion and then one gets pregnant and their lives change. Yes. But it's so much more. It's a dysfunctional family drama with more characters than just the sisters:
- the difficult step-brother Vincent from their mother's first marriage, whom she abandoned as a baby along with her first husband, by running off with her second husband;
- Mimi's husband Barney who is struggling to adjust to his wife's pregnancy and the changes in the household;
- Their glamorous and exotic absentee parents who choose to live in Hollywood, and have ever since the kids were young, swooping in occasionally with gifts and fleeing again, leaving Mimi and Beth and later Vincent to the care of a housekeeper.
The entire book is told from Beth's perspective and Beth is emotionally volatile and, it is heavily suggested, mentally ill. What is wrong with her, we don't know, but she's been hospitalized several times but not for a long while. She is vulnerable, very introspective, highly observant and has a penchant for identifying the true natures of other people's characters and relationship dynamics.
Relationship dynamics are front and center in this novel and figuring them out is the puzzle offered by the author. You think you've figured them out only to be stunned by yet another layer revealed. And relationships between all the characters are really well fleshed out, so there's a lot to get stuck into. It reminded me of Anne Tyler's novels.
Several things happen that challenge the relationship dynamics, Mimi's pregnancy being only one of them. New people become intertwined with the family, the property where they live is under threat... And throughout it all, Beth remains an enigma. I don't know what to make of her. Is she who she says she is? Or is she a master manipulator? The ending is ambiguous, leaving me wanting more. I spent so long in her head but I still don't feel like I know her... Which was intentional by the author, I think. I really enjoyed Beth's ability to see beyond the surface of what people say to each other. She hears the conversation and she interprets it for us as to what is actually being said. Is she correct? Well, we live inside her head so in that context, yes. But her own thoughts and motivations remain elusive.
I should say that there are some trigger warnings. There's a discussion of abortion, the use of a racial slur in passing (the N word) twice, there's a hint at sexual abuse (maybe?). None of it is graphic but it's there.
There's so much to say. Firstly, this book stalked me. Oddly for an obscurish oldish (1969) novel, it kept jumping at me from the secondhand bookstore shelf for months and I kept putting it back, somewhat put off by the blurb (which turned out to be slightly inaccurate anyway), only to get sucked in by a 25c library sale based on the title alone, forgetting that I had considered and ignored this book previously.
The blurb says it's about two adult sisters Mimi and Beth who live together in a mansion and then one gets pregnant and their lives change. Yes. But it's so much more. It's a dysfunctional family drama with more characters than just the sisters:
- the difficult step-brother Vincent from their mother's first marriage, whom she abandoned as a baby along with her first husband, by running off with her second husband;
- Mimi's husband Barney who is struggling to adjust to his wife's pregnancy and the changes in the household;
- Their glamorous and exotic absentee parents who choose to live in Hollywood, and have ever since the kids were young, swooping in occasionally with gifts and fleeing again, leaving Mimi and Beth and later Vincent to the care of a housekeeper.
The entire book is told from Beth's perspective and Beth is emotionally volatile and, it is heavily suggested, mentally ill. What is wrong with her, we don't know, but she's been hospitalized several times but not for a long while. She is vulnerable, very introspective, highly observant and has a penchant for identifying the true natures of other people's characters and relationship dynamics.
Relationship dynamics are front and center in this novel and figuring them out is the puzzle offered by the author. You think you've figured them out only to be stunned by yet another layer revealed. And relationships between all the characters are really well fleshed out, so there's a lot to get stuck into. It reminded me of Anne Tyler's novels.
Several things happen that challenge the relationship dynamics, Mimi's pregnancy being only one of them. New people become intertwined with the family, the property where they live is under threat... And throughout it all, Beth remains an enigma. I don't know what to make of her. Is she who she says she is? Or is she a master manipulator? The ending is ambiguous, leaving me wanting more. I spent so long in her head but I still don't feel like I know her... Which was intentional by the author, I think. I really enjoyed Beth's ability to see beyond the surface of what people say to each other. She hears the conversation and she interprets it for us as to what is actually being said. Is she correct? Well, we live inside her head so in that context, yes. But her own thoughts and motivations remain elusive.
I should say that there are some trigger warnings. There's a discussion of abortion, the use of a racial slur in passing (the N word) twice, there's a hint at sexual abuse (maybe?). None of it is graphic but it's there.
December 31, 2018
Yet another book I checked out from the library and enjoyed so much that I will have a hard time managing to return it on time.
I enjoyed the emotional plots, the needy characters, the unfolding of their stories -- but the best, as often is with me, was the prose. Especially prose that introduced ideas new to me.
Here are the very first two paragraphs:
~~~~~
A nightmare is terrifying because it can never be undone. A piece of paper tore with an incredibly loud screeching noise. My eyes opened. Then what? If the paper had torn while I was awake I could have taped it but if the tearing of a dream paper tore me then I was torn forever. I could scream for my sister Mimi and she might or might not hear me and come in to find out what was wrong, and if she did come my fear might be somewhat allayed, but nothing she or anyone else said could ever make that piece of paper whole again because it had torn in a world where we were powerless.
While in the beautiful well-ordered lie of our everyday lives there was almost nothing we cold not do. We commanded the flowers to grow and within the more or less predictable limitations of soil and weather, they obeyed our commands. We turned wool into rugs and sweaters, crab apples into jelly, wood into fire. We put screens on the windows and summer came; we replaced them with storm windows to permit the snow to fall. Our lives denied our nightmares, which was why I stayed awake for all but four or five hours each night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What an amazing way to think. I enjoy causation vs correlation conundrums as well as the powers of neurotic thinking. I also sleep 8-9 hours a night, so what does that say about me?
I enjoyed the emotional plots, the needy characters, the unfolding of their stories -- but the best, as often is with me, was the prose. Especially prose that introduced ideas new to me.
Here are the very first two paragraphs:
~~~~~
A nightmare is terrifying because it can never be undone. A piece of paper tore with an incredibly loud screeching noise. My eyes opened. Then what? If the paper had torn while I was awake I could have taped it but if the tearing of a dream paper tore me then I was torn forever. I could scream for my sister Mimi and she might or might not hear me and come in to find out what was wrong, and if she did come my fear might be somewhat allayed, but nothing she or anyone else said could ever make that piece of paper whole again because it had torn in a world where we were powerless.
While in the beautiful well-ordered lie of our everyday lives there was almost nothing we cold not do. We commanded the flowers to grow and within the more or less predictable limitations of soil and weather, they obeyed our commands. We turned wool into rugs and sweaters, crab apples into jelly, wood into fire. We put screens on the windows and summer came; we replaced them with storm windows to permit the snow to fall. Our lives denied our nightmares, which was why I stayed awake for all but four or five hours each night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What an amazing way to think. I enjoy causation vs correlation conundrums as well as the powers of neurotic thinking. I also sleep 8-9 hours a night, so what does that say about me?
September 23, 2022
I found this book among other, old books we have. I really enjoyed it. It is interesting and an easy read. It kept me wondering how it was going to end.
August 10, 2016
This book was beyond cynical. The narrator was unlikable and the whole cast of characters were dysfunctional and unsympathetic. Much of the dialog was amusing, which is why I'm giving this two stars instead of one. At the same time, it bothered me that all the wit was so caustic - often downright abusive. Not to mention the actual abusive behaviors depicted or alluded to in the story. There seemed to be something a little anti-intellectual about the focus on exposing how hypocritical and pretentious these people are, these Hollywood people, these left-wing, anti-war writer-types.
Read
March 19, 2008this book was ripped off by Running with Scissors
July 22, 2012
Another gem plucked from the pages of Nancy Pearl's Book Lust series.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.