Queenie

by Hortense Calisher

A cheeky portrait of an old-fashioned young woman's assimilation into the modern world Set in 1960s New York, this piquant coming-of-age story concerns a teenage girl, Queenie, raised to become a "kept woman" in an exceedingly comfortable and well-adjusted--yet insular and retrograde--household. After enrolling in college, Queenie confronts new understandings, both personal and political, and gradually becomes cognizant of the dated values imparted upon her. Bringing her trademark stylishness and a remarkable exuberance to Queenie , Hortense Calisher simultaneously pays homage to and updates the Victorian storytelling approach in capturing the intellectual and sexual breakthroughs of a contemporary young woman.

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published June 1, 1982

About the author

Hortense Calisher was an American writer of fiction.

Calisher involved her closely investigated, penetrating characters in complicated plotlines that unfold with shocks and surprises in allusive, nuanced language with a distinctively elegiac voice, sometimes compared with Eudora Welty, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Henry James. Critics generally considered Calisher a type of neo-realist and often both condemned and praised for her extensive explorations of characters and their social worlds. She was definitely at odds with the prevailing writing style of minimalism that characterized fiction writing in the 1970s and 1980s and that emphasized a sparse, non-romantic style with no room for expressionism or romanticism. As an anti-minimalist, Calisher was admired for her elliptical style in which more is hinted at than stated, and she was also praised as a social realist and critic in the vein of Honore Balzac and Edith Wharton.

Reviews

[Emily Rogo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Confusing

This book was poorly written. Honestly I can’t even tell you what happened. The storyline barely moves. There is no real beginning, middle, or end. I don’t recommend.

[Megan Hodge · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads like an edgy monolog you would read at high school UIL drama competition.