Superior Women

"Getting of the train, on a Friday night that is also New Year's Eve, Lavinia is very beautiful. With the perfectly fitted, perfectly simple black coat (that cost more than a month salary of the Negro fitting woman), she wears perfect black suede shoes, with high thin heels, and a filmy pale pink scarf at her throat. As she steps down carefully from the high train, off and into Gordon's arms, she sees her own beauty reflected in Gordon's eyes. In his kiss." This is my kind of book; the type of book I always long for. The women characters are so absolutely different, so terribly complicated and oh so very much like the people we know, or where some of the very personalities shown, remind us of ourselves, of the ways we were, or are. Superior Women takes us into the lives of five women who were college students at Radcliffe together at one time, and then Ms. Adams carries us into their adult lives, so we at least read about twenty years into the lives of these females. Meet Lavinia from Virginia, so vain, the perfect blonde who has everything going for her, or has she? She has wealth and good looks, but can these things give her what she truly wants out of life? Then we have Janet, not a favourite of Lavinia's, who does not considers Jews. But Janet is a good student and dedicated to her beau an army lad. Now let's look at Cathy who is the mysterious one, who everyone tries to figure out and no one seems to be able to do this with any luck. A very interesting person but??? Then we meet Peg who has a problem with her weight but and tends to remain on the heavy side, and sticks to Lavinia and Megan. It is in the latter part of her life that her life changes beyond belief; just wait for this surprise, and then lastly, the one woman I consider the main character of the entire novel Megan Greene. Megan hails from California but has yearned to come to the East after meeting a young man from Cape Cod whom she suspects is wealthy, and she thinks she might have a chance with. Megan pulls out all the stops to get to Radcliff in Massachusetts, eager to leave her dowdy existence and her humble parentsin California. You will be mesmerized and entertained as the lives of these five women interlace in this amazing book. If you like Rona Jaffe's books you will certainly enjoy this one. Highly recommended!!! A treat!!! Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE 15/03/06)

Alice Adams draws the reader into the lives of five college women and then leads us through to their old age. The writing in this book is masterful. It shows us the interior lives of women -- the need for love, for lust, for career success, for acceptance. I could see parts of myself in each of the girls. Adams renders the relationship of women so accurately. Most books try to make female relationships too slap happy or too backstabbing. This is a gentle balance of both. The girls don't really like each other, but they do. It's real. And, the girls are real, too. I once had a literature professor who said that women can be categorized into three cubbyholes -- the black widow, the sea cow, and the ladybug. The black widow was sexiness, the sea cow was motherliness, and the ladybug was girlishness. Well, Alice Adams defies those stereotypes and creates five women who are not just surface pretty pictures of what women should be, but complete women who are as capable of sin as they are of kindness -- superior women.

Reading anything by Alice Adams is a treat. Vivid characters, compelling storylines--she's a master (or should it be mistress?). This is one of my favorite books.

As one of the previous reviewers said, the story is "lite" yet compelling. That is true. But what makes this story much better than other stories of friendships and change is Adams' impressive writing skill. She can plumb the grey areas of character and motivation while maintaining a lean, readable style. There are no seeds of parody in this story. The events are interesting, the relationships are realistic and the author has an elegant way of displaying the characters' mistakes and foibles without heavy handed judgement. And if that does not convince you, try this: My wife was reading a book on coming of age among women. I asked her how she rated the book. Her response: "This author is trying to be Alice Adams."ÿ

Women will especially enjoy the tale of women who grow up and grow apart and together again. Perfect to take to the beach or on any trip as a well written but "lite" story.