Hunters And Gatherers: A Novel (Paperback)

The women, it turns out, are Goddess worshipers. Martha immediately wins their open-armed attention by diving into the cold water and saving their leader, Isis Moonwagon, from drowning. Another decisive act concludes the book but in between Martha remains passive, aloof, flowing with the current.

Martha, 30, is at a low point in her life. So low that "lately she'd had a persistent sense of being watched and judged and found wanting, even when no one was looking and she was the only one in the room."

Recently dumped by her lover she broods "about the many faults in herself that had given him no choice." Among these is her job as fact checker at Mode, a fashion magazine, "a job not merely boring, underpaid and demeaning but also pointedly symbolic of what she most despised in herself: her starchy literal-mindedness, her unintuitive narrowness."

So she allows herself to be swept up by her new acquaintances - women without men - widows, divorcees, celibates and lesbians - united in their conviction that the world would be a better place if it were run by women.

But skeptical Martha can't help thinking of Margaret Thatcher and the cruelties of little girls to one another. And the Goddess worshipers themselves are not above sniping and bickering.

Still, Martha tries to "embrace the irrational," stifling her embarrassment at flaky rituals in her desire to be accepted.

The narrative culminates in a retreat to Arizona to study with a Native American healer. The trip's petty disasters are hilarious and the strain begins to tell. Martha's true withdrawal begins as, shuddering at the image of all of them naked in a sweat lodge, she lies to get out of it. When disaster strikes, Martha acts while the others are dithering and debating, planning a healing circle and turning to the only man around for help. "As soon as her daughter disappeared, Freya had stopped praying to the Goddess and instead kept muttering, 'Jesus Christ. Oh Jesus.' "

Martha's voice, cool, ironic but self-deprecating, avoids any temptation toward facile fun-poking. While Prose no more than sketches the histories of the Goddess women, Martha sees through their props and posturings to the person hiding there - which doesn't necessarily make any of them more likable.

Prose's prose is spare, sharp and finely tuned. She has achieved a delicate balance - parody without condescension.

Francine Prose's "Hunters and Gatherers" is a honey for the caveman's heart. New Age and feminism take a severe beating in the novel. However, I looked around to spy a little on what else Francine Prose has written, and I was glad to see that in a way she specializes in humorous critiques of the modern-day absurdities of all types. Indeed, Prose has no mercy and ridicules the close-mindedness of the true believers of The Goddess, very adequately portraying the cosmic absurd of the malevore ways in general.

What's more, it is also an insight into the sects, much like John Updike's "In the Beauty of the Lilies". I was bored to tears with that last one, although I have to give Updike that he portrayed the sects and mentality of the victims quite well. "Hunters and Gatherers" sometimes raises the hair on our neck. Is it really that easy to fall prey to the New Age sect? What kind of character must one have to become a victim? If the special circumstances arise, all it takes to lose a child is a coincidence, or a minor incident, and bang, we may never see our daughter again. As comic as this book is, it is also dead serious in the background. There is no shortage of charlatans out there, and equally enough, there is no shortage of emotionally unstable people, let alone teenagers. If you have problems with your child, perhaps this book will wake you up, and throw the scales off your eyes. If you do that in time...

Prose is very witty and observant, and I enjoyed the book throughout, but her writing lacks that universal touch a bit, which really disappointed me. Does it sound contradictory? It really isn't. "Hunters and Gatherers" is a thoroughly enjoyable book, in harmony with my own outlook on the malevore trends, but still, I doubt I will ever come back to this book. Why? I know the story, I had my laugh or two, but there isn't much more to this novel. Perhaps because I knew all this already... Nevertheless, this should not discourage you from reading the novel. If you haven't read any book of this type, you'll love this.

Martha's embracing of the strange (to her), new religion and subsequent disillusion with it demonstates that those who go looking for Truth in the form of other fallible human beings might as well be turning their backs on the high tide at Fire Island.

Of course, I wasn't looking for a moral when I picked up H&G, but a darn good yarn. Francine Prose hasn't let me down yet. After reading this, I went on to read everything of hers I could get my hands on.

Disgruntled leftovers from NOW's salad days won't appreciate this book. As a woman who never felt the so-called Women's Movement represented or included me, I found _Hunters and Gatherers_ incisive, enlightening and entertaining. Go, Francine--and cool last name, too!