- Paperback: 199 pages
- Publisher: City Lights Publishers (Jan 1 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0872863220
- ISBN-13: 978-0872863224
- Product Dimensions: 2 x 1.3 x 0.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
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Product Description
From Amazon
In "Gypsy Lore," one of 19 stories in Janice Eidus's new collection, The Celibacy Club, 15-year-old Anna asks a fortune teller about sex. "He comes in, he goes out. He comes in, he goes out. That's all," the gypsy replies. The gypsy's evident ennui about sex might apply just as easily to this collection itself, in which a lot happens but nothing much matters. In the title story, Nancy joins a celibacy club where everyone talks about why they're not having sex. Then she has sex with one of the club members, quits the club and buys a condo in the Bronx. In "Making Love, Making Movies" screenwriter Jeff inexplicably starts cheating on his wife of ten years, an actress obsessed with Sigourney Weaver. During each affair he casts himself as a different Hollywood actor, while each encounter becomes a scenario for yet another trite film cliché in his hackneyed mind.
Ms. Eidus's tales are often amusing, but she tends to substitute pop culture references for character development, and high concept ideas, i.e., a Barbie doll goes to group therapy, for theme. Still, readers who enjoy this type of ultra-hip urban story-telling may well find The Celibacy Club entertaining reading.
From Kirkus Reviews
Most of the 19 stories here have been published in small magazines, and a number anthologized. This isn't surprising: Eidus's tales (Vito Loves Geraldine, 1990, etc.) often seem either written to order or just not weighty enough for more mainstream venues. The author's jokier tales poke fun at familiar targets: the therapeutic culture; health clubs; and the shallowness of Hollywood. Eidus also mocks our obsession with celebrity in a series of pieces about pop icons: In ``Elvis, Axl, and Me,'' a former mental patient discovers Elvis alive and well, living in the Bronx as an Hasidic Jew; in ``Barbie Goes to Group Therapy,'' a group of whiny women seek revenge on the doll they blame for their unhappiness; and in ``Jimmy Dean: My Kind of Guy,'' the narrator sleeps with the dreamy actor who's still alive and writing a play at an artists' colony. False hope, the loss of innocence, and nostalgia for a lost childhood all figure into other stories such as ``The Mermaid of Orchard Beach,'' in which a Bronx girl discovers her ability to create her own reality and to fashion happiness from ``what was really so very little.'' Similarly, a woman who believed in the power of goodness as a child can't understand why her mean and nasty sister (and not she) has achieved wealth and happiness as an adult (``The Princess of Lake Forest''). The least successful stories take themselves far too seriously and are written with a sledgehammer sensibility: a portrait of a phone- sex worker and her childhood history of sexual abuse (``Pandora's Box''); ``Ladies with Long Hair,'' about a group of women who refuse to cut their hair in solidarity with those dying from AIDS; and a disposable bit of advocacy on condom use (``Aunt Lulu, the Condom Lady''). A few self-reflexive pieces about writers add nothing to an altogether artless second collection. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good for anyone who has examined life,
By Allison S. (Chicago, Il) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Celibacy Club (Paperback)
This book is great for anyone who has examined life. After reading this book, one will feel as though they have experinced soneone else's life, which is not similar, but not too far away from their own. This book explores life as it is:happy, sad, unpredictable, disgusting, wonderful, etc. The stories in this book model the fact that life can contradict itself. The variety of stories in this book exhibit people against the world, and their struggles for meaning. Anyone can relate to this. The stories are about people trying to be accepted in a fast-paced, thick-cored, sex-crazed, money driven,but wonderful and interesting society. The stories depict discovering yourself and dealing with life, no matter what it throws your way. Janice Eidus writes in a matter-of-fact, uncensored way that evokes a variety of emotions. After reading this, I feel as if I have met twenty new interesting people, who I could relate to. This is a book that one can read again and again. You'll never forget these stories.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good for anyone who has examined life,
By Allison S. (Chicago, Il) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Celibacy Club (Paperback)
This book is great for anyone who has examined life. After reading this book, one will feel as though they have experinced soneone else's life, which is not similar, but not too far away from their own. This book explores life as it is:happy, sad, unpredictable, disgusting, wonderful, etc. The stories in this book model the fact that life can contradict itself. The variety of stories in this book exhibit people against the world, and their struggles for meaning. Anyone can relate to this. The stories are about people trying to be accepted in a fast-paced, thick-cored, sex-crazed, money driven,but wonderful and interesting society. The stories depict discovering yourself and dealing with life, no matter what it throws your way. Janice Eidus writes in a matter-of-fact, uncensored way that evokes a variety of emotions. After reading this, I feel as if I have met twenty new interesting people, who I could relate to. This is a book that one can read again and again. You'll never forget these stories.
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Celibacy club,
By Sophia R (Naperville, IL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Celibacy Club (Paperback)
"The Celibacy Club" is cold hearted in its treatment of characters. The author almost mocks them. I think that Eidus simply was not sure what she wanted to say with a particular story. Epiphanies don't always follow the action. I think she may be trying to be ironic. I think the opening stories are clever and touching, but the ones toward the end are a little bit more then generalities stretched into narratives. I feel like Eidus wrote the 19 stories in order, in one sitting, and getting tired halfway through! Some of the stories are good, though. In the better stories, Eidus weaves dark humor, harsh reality and sarcasm with a bit of hope mixed in. I liked the title story best. It is about a young woman who vows herself celibacy and becomes a member of a group of celibates that meet in the Bronx. Things are going okay, until one lady develops a crush on the guy who carpools to the meetings with her. The dialogue exchanged between the two was good. Overall, I basically think that this book flashes on and off with good stories but doesn't provide any real warmth.
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