The Female of the Species

This book is very different but a very intriguing one. I enjoyed it a lot.

This novel centers around the larger-than-life Gray Kaiser, a queenly anthropologist who is famous for stumbling upon a previously unknown aboriginal culture in the heart of the jungle. What makes her famous is that another white person stumbled upon them first, Charles Corgie, a handsome charlatan who had the tribe believing he was a god. Instead of blowing Corgie's cover, Gray stayed on in the village as his co-goddess and observed the interplay until the bitter end. (This episode is deserving of a book in its own right, and I was disappointed that it was only a few chapters.) In late middle age, the eternally youthful Gray is firmly established in the university system, queen of all she surveys, worshipped as a goddess by her assistant, Erroll. Then Raphael Sarasota enters the picture. Through this young man who looks so much like Corgie, Gray is able to unleash her sexual fantasies and finally finds that she actually needs another human being. A large part of the narrative is made up of Erroll's clever fantasies about Gray and Raphael. Raphael uses and discards Gray, who is painfully oblivious despite everyone's warnings. Ms. Shriver again masterfully describes the inner workings of a difficult, perhaps even unlikable, character. For another fabulously written character study, read WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN.

I read this book when it first came out and I loved it. I lent my copy to a friend, and for years it remained absent from my bookshelf. I came across it again in a second-hand shop and bought it to reread. It is as good the second time around. The characters are so real, and you can easily imagine how each one came to the exact point in their lives where paths cross in the story. I can't believe this book hasn't gotten more attention over the years. A classic in my library. Don't miss it!

A woman discovers love and the subsequent loss for the first time in her life, a heart-wrenching journey. I can't wait to read more of Ms. Shriver's work.

Lionel Shriver's first published book (that I know of and I've been looking) that is not as tightly written as her later "The Bleeding Heart", about an older woman with power falling in love with a younger man and the reaction of her longtime assistant, friend, admirer, Errol. Explores the subtle power play in personal relationships. As with all her books the characters are well developed, the prose tight and flowing. Definitely worth reading