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Playing House: A Novel von Fredrica Wagman
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Playing House: A Novel (Original 1973; 2008. Auflage)

von Fredrica Wagman, Philip Roth (Vorwort)

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A probing descent into madness, Playing House is the shocking story of one woman's struggle with the lasting effects of a childhood sexual relationship with her brother. A literary tour de force with an introduction by Philip Roth.
Mitglied:titania86
Titel:Playing House: A Novel
Autoren:Fredrica Wagman
Weitere Autoren:Philip Roth (Vorwort)
Info:Zoland Books (2008), Edition: 35th, Paperback, 176 pages
Sammlungen:Deine Bibliothek, Noch zu lesen
Bewertung:
Tags:incest

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Playing House: A Novel von Fredrica Wagman (1973)

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Its a older book I have never heard of and is celebrating its 35th anniversary. I knew this book was going to be about incest, but boy I was not prepared for what I was about to read. The story is told in first person by the victim of incest by her brother. We never learn her name. The characters are not named, besides "turtle", the main characters husband. And I guess there is really no need for their names.
This sick, disgusting book is written almost lyrically. It is almost like reading a journal of a mad deranged woman. The book is full of long flowing sentences, that are beautiful, insane and funny at times.
I was expecting to feel sorry for this character, but I felt nothing for her. She was/is just a sick twisted individual. She enjoyed her sexual relationship with her brother, who is just a horrible individual. I think she was just born into an odd family to begin with. Her sisters suicide is something that haunts her her entire life making her ask constantly "Does it run in families?"
Although her relationship with her brother has ended years ago, she still longs for him, looks for him in every man she sees. The ultimate dream is to be with him.
It was like looking it to the mind of someone I would want nothing to do with. I found the book just so disturbing I can't even tell you. I stopped a few times and didn't think I would be able to finish it even though its not even 200 pages. When I read, like most of you probably, I see it like a movie in my mind. I see the action, the places, the characters, usually their faces are blurry, but I see them. Well now I'm stuck with some images I wish I could erase. Around page 70 or so with the whole dog. Yes I said dog. Lord some of it was just so sick. And this is where I stopped reading the second time. "Nope. I just can't do it," I said out loud. Took me three times of stopping to actually go back and finishing the book.
I was feeling bad about thinking of what I was going to say about this book. I don't like to be negative. But then I thought, well I'll just tell the truth and maybe someone will say "I wonder if I would find it as disturbing?" and read it. Be prepared to be left with some images you might not like to have stuck in your brain. ( )
  GreenFairyLV | Nov 13, 2009 |
This review was originally posted on my review blog : Falling Off The Shelf. I received this book from FSB Media in return for my honest review.

This book was really confusing to me. I usually like to put into my own words what the book is about before I go on to say my feelings about it. I can't do that with this book. The only thing I can tell you is that this book disturbed me a great deal. I've read so many books in my short life, but I've never been as disturbed as I was while reading this one.

This book was written the same way as a previous book that I reviewed by Wagman, The Lie, which was kind of annoying. While the words flow together very easily, and make for a quick read, there is hardly any punctuation at all. I guess it works out well though, because the main character is completely insane. The way that this book is written really makes the main character, the narrator, seem even more insane. I literally had to stop reading this a few times and turn on the TV because I needed some sanity. This is saying a lot, because normally I don't go near a television.

I have read books in the past that feature incest, and while that is by far one of the worst things I have ever read about, this book made it even worse. I used to read a lot of V.C. Andrews' novels, and more often than not her books feature some kind of incest. Most of the time the characters in her books are usually being raped, or don't realize that they are sleeping with someone that is blood related. It was different here, and I think that's why I cringed at every turn of the page. This was consensual incest, and I could't wrap my mind around why someone would do something like that, or even write about it.

I can honestly say that I was going to finish this book, but I just couldn't. At the mere mention of beastiality toward the middle of the novel, I closed it. I couldn't bring myself to read any further. I'm sorry that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did Wagman's previous novel, but my stomach just couldn't handle what it was being served.

I wouldn't recommend this book to a lot of people. If your against incestual relations, beastiality, or high sexual content. I would also highly recommend that religious people not pick up this book, as there is quite a lot of conversation toward a priest where the narrator continuously confesses her sins, and there are many. ( )
  jenni7202 | Oct 16, 2009 |
Warning - this book is NOT for the faint of heart or squeamish! Honestly, there were times where it was almost too much for me (and I read Lolita and Lady Chatterley's Lover with no problems whatsoever and spent two days wandering the Red Light district in Amsterdam and loved every minute of it). I found that the madness of the main character was so intense that I could only read a few pages at a time. However, I was equally disturbed and fascinated by the tumultuous mind of the heroine and found that no matter whether I was reading or not, the book and the main character constantly haunted me.

I warred between absolute horror at her relationship with her brother and wanting to enfold her in my arms and try to heal her. The entire book is a cry for help; she struggles to be normal but realizes that she cannot. She idolizes and hates her brother, and those two emotions play out in everything that happens to her. She has more bad experiences that would make any person insane, which sparked my need to nurture and protect. However, her relationship with her brother and subsequent behavior violates some of our most innate cultural mores, and it is difficult to overcome those feelings of revulsion. Upon objective reflection, the reader can realize that these opposite feelings are the point because if the reader is feeling such warring emotions, just how violent are the feelings of the heroine?

In simple terms, this book is completely haunting and gut-wrenching. Take this line, "I didn't love anyone, and that was death" (p. 89). It punches you in the stomach with its simple need. The entire book was like that - simple statements that packed such an emotional punch that leave you gasping for breath, wanting to take a break but needing to continue to read. I've never read anything quite like it.

As I said, this is a tough, tough book to finish. Incest is never easy, but some of the main character's behavior as a result of that incest is also quite disturbing. It takes a strong stomach and open mind to get through the book but well worth it in the end. Based on what I read here, I'm less inclined to judge people for their decisions because you never know what is driving them to make them.

This is the second book I've read by Ms. Wagman, and I was not disappointed. I highly recommend her books, although I again caution you that her subject matters are not easy. Thank you to Julie Harabedian from FSB Associates for the opportunity to review this book! ( )
  jmchshannon | Oct 12, 2009 |
Playing House is about a woman who's had an incestious relationship with her brother when she was younger. At first, you'd think, she would struggle against this sort of thing. It's obviously not normal and it's certainly psychologically devestating. However, things starts to take a darker twist as she starts to accept this, and actually like it. As she grows older, and has different relationships with other men, she still has her mind on her brother and compares these men to her brother. As you read through the pages you see what goes through her mind and how her life just always revolves around her brother.

I knew it was going to be a hard topic to swallow. I read the synopsis before agreeing to review this book. Even though I was a little hesitant because Wagman's writing style is very different. I was wrong. You won't have that many problems reading this book it's almost lyrical and poetic if not for the haphazard thoughts the narrator goes through. As for the topic, I knew what I was getting myself into, but I didn't think it would be as bad as I thought it would be. There's just parts that now stand out in my head and I can't get it out and it just feels dirty. Don't get me wrong it's not as if I don't like the book, in fact I thought it was interesting because of what goes through her mind and what the narrator does to go through her life always comparing everything to things she's done with her brother. It's just because of the topics you just feel almost dirty reading it. Perhaps Wagman had that in mind for her readers. I'm not sure.

I found it hard to sympathize with the narrator. She actually liked having sex with her brother and she wanted to be with him for the rest of her life. She starts taking a turn for the worse after her brother leaves and it's just hard to like her. Her brother is just as bad, he's cruel he's horrible and everything about him is just wrong. You'd almost have to wonder if they're both really meant for each other (even though they're related) since he's corrupted her and made her this way (at least, I think so).

The things I didn't like about the book? the narrator's thoughts are a little haphazard and all over the place. Also they blend in from the past, into present time so it's a bit hard to follow. Otherwise, those that are a little sensitive to this kind of taboo content, it's really not for you. There's also some beastiality content so if you're really not into any kind of sexual explicit material this is probably not the book for you.

Overall a very shocking book. One of the most psychologically draining books I have ever read up to this point. I really liked the narration though, despite its' content, Wagman made it sound lyrical and poetic at times and I thought it was a job well done. It's a short read (less than 200 pages) and although I don't really recommend it, I wouldn't say ignore it either as it's something that should be read. It's not everyday where you come across a book with taboo content but written well enough that it's not trashy. ( )
  sensitivemuse | Sep 25, 2009 |
Playing House by Fredrica Wagman

synopsis:

A probing descent into madness that will fascinate the same audience that appreciated I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.” This nationally bestselling story of one woman’s struggle with the lasting effects of a childhood sexual relationship with her brother shocked American readers; it remains a literary work of enduring quality and value. In his foreword Philip Roth writes, “The traumatized child; the institutionalized wife; the haunting desire; the ghastly business of getting through the day – what is striking about Wagman’s treatment of these contemporary motifs is the voice of longing in which the heroine shamelessly confesses to the incestuous need that is at once her undoing and her only hope.”

I was very nervous that I agreed to review this book, and it sat around for awhile before I picked it up and started reading it. And it hit me right from the beginning, testing my comfort level. The unnamed narrator frankly recreates the events of her childhood. Her brother was cruel, he would torture animals and hurt his sister, But still she loved him and the sexual relationship became consensual, one that she craved even after he left, into her adulthood and through her marriage and life.

But I was moved by this book, fascinated, though repulsed at times. The writing is very powerful, as the narrator recalls events from the past, woven among present realities. It is not a lengthy novel, 160 pages, but involves such a myriad of emotions, that I felt drained when I finished it. Wagman was able to create a powerful story about a taboo subject that in another person's hand may have seemed to have been done only for its shock value.

This is a novel worth reading, one that will definitely create discussion and discomfort, but that one will never forget ( )
  bookmagic | Sep 20, 2009 |
“Playing House” - Fredrica Wagman has written a book that covers some of the taboo’s of our society,with a woman struggling to survive abuse from her brother while trying to hold herself together for her long suffering husband, all the while, longing for something that will never be right. This book shocked America when it came out in 1973, and this 35th anniversary edition is just as disturbing, today. Misplaced yearning, broken trust, and wonderful writing are the hallmarks of this book. While it may not appeal to everyone, it is an amazing piece of work.

I had a lot of trouble writing this review, because I didn’t have the words, but I found it haunting and it will stick with me for a long time.
 
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A probing descent into madness, Playing House is the shocking story of one woman's struggle with the lasting effects of a childhood sexual relationship with her brother. A literary tour de force with an introduction by Philip Roth.

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