Clea and Zeus Divorce

I think Emily Prager is often over-looked when we think of great contemporary female authors. I've read most of her books, and just recently finished Clea & Zeus. At first, I'll admit, I had a hard time getting through the first chapter of the book because Prager sort of throws the reader into the lives of these two complex people. The book starts off on stage, basically, which is not a typical way to start a book -- right in the middle of the action. Once you realize what's going on, then you, as the reader, can move on and just keep reading. And keep reading you will.What I love the most about this book is the constant theme of nuclear war -- whether the [surprise] is going to drop or not, and whether Prager is going to even show us what happens at the end. In the middle of that theme, you also learn about Clea & Zeus, their entourage of friends (and a strange entourage at that), and see the complexity of a marriage; especially a marriage is just a show business world. Everything's pushed to the extremes of the ridiculous, but in a sense, that's how some people live their lives because it's available to them.The ending -- wow. Very different from what I expected. It's one of the few times that I experienced an ending such as the one Prager gives us and wanted more. I usually take abrupt endings at face value and go on. I don't need more. But with this ending, I wanted more. I want a Clea & Zeus part two -- just because it was that good. Definitely a great read.

Ah, the 80s. The last days of the Cold War; people were still frightened of nuclear holocaust. An entire book could be creditably built around one woman's conviction that a 150 kiloton nuclear bomb will fall on Kennedy Airport on September 10 at 10 p.m. And a nuclear blast could be compared to the end of a marriage.A lousy marriage. That is what Clea and Zeus have. They don't even like each other, but remain infatuated with each other for about 8 years. They recreate and embellish upon the events of their marriage in their nightclub act, which eventually evolves into a series of television specials. They become rich and famous by failing to distinguish between entertainment and their own lives. This is very, very funny stuff.These two spectacularly attractive and talented people have no real friends except for their entourage, which consists of 8 Rhodesians colonials devoted to Zeus's protection, one black South African and one Chinese. Clea and Zeus are wildly narcissistic people, their own selves shattered by perverse childhood traumas involving their mothers. They live to perform and are essentially always on stage, barely existing when they are not.The structure of this book is fascinating. The narrative is spliced up with flashbacks into the youths of Clea and Zeus and into the more recent events that have led up to their final performance and the end of their marriage. Emily Prager is not a showy writer. There are some postmodern tricks here: the confusion between the performances and real lives, the narrative disruption, the absurdity of some of the character's identities, the magic realism of their physical abilities. But there is a real story here and it is a sad and compelling one.

Prager has a great insight into the bizarre complexity of marriage. Zeus reaches terrific symbolic justice at the end of the book. C & Z focuses on the intricate fabric of trust and intimacy and vanity that exists in contempoary marriages. The fact that this novel is out of print speaks to the male dominant aspect of society today.