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Beebo Brinker #0-3
The Beebo Brinker Chronicles
This is a compilation volume of four of Ann Bannon's "lesbian pulp" novels:
Odd Girl Out (1957)
I Am a Woman (1959)
Women in the Shadows (1959)
Beebo Brinker (1962)
Odd Girl Out (1957)
I Am a Woman (1959)
Women in the Shadows (1959)
Beebo Brinker (1962)
792 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
5 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
Ann Bannon
28 books175 followersAnn Bannon (pseudonym of Ann Weldy) is an American author and academic. She is known for her lesbian pulp novels, which comprise The Beebo Brinker Chronicles and earned her the title "Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction."
Bannon was featured in the documentaries Before Stonewall (1984) and Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives (1992)
Bannon was featured in the documentaries Before Stonewall (1984) and Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives (1992)
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 17, 2012
During the 50s and 60s there were two kinds of lesbian pulp fiction: the ones straight men wrote for other straight men purely for the titillation factor (often portraying the 'dangers' and 'ills' of being gay, as seen during a time very few people tried to understand gays and lesbians) and the ones closeted gay housewives looked to as survival literature (the only thing they had to cling to in a world that rarely discussed 'the love that dare not speak its name.')
Ann Bannon, whose five highly addictive and surprisingly well-written books are so much better than their covers and reputation would have you believe, went for the latter in a frank, sincere and often very touching manner.
As Patricia Highsmith wrote in her afterward to The Price Of Salt (written around the same time as Bannon's books): "Homosexuals male and female in American novels had had to pay for their deviation by cutting their wrists, drowning themselves in a swimming pool, or by switching to heterosexuality (so it was stated), or by collapsing (alone and miserable and shunned ) into a depression equal to hell."
Odd Girl Out and other novels like it may seem terribly out of date in our more enlightened 21st century, but, sadly, for many (especially those women who live in conservative towns or have no one to reach out to who would support their coming out) Ann Bannon's books still have a lot to say, not just about the chills and thrills of being a woman first realizing she likes other women, but about love in general.
Sentences such as these could apply to anyone who has ever been on the cusp of love and been terribly afraid: "And in self-defense Laura tried to build a wall of politeness between them, to admire Beth from far away. There was a vague, strange feeling in the younger that to get close to Beth was to worship her, and to worship her was to get hurt."
After Odd Girl Out, there is: I Am A Woman, Women In The Shadows, Journey To A Woman and Beebo Brinker (actually a prequel even though it was written last.)
No matter what your orientation or beliefs, you may find all five books riveting, not only for their historical context in giving modern readers an idea of just how much has changed in the world of LGBT rights, but also because they do what any good book should: tell a compelling story with characters who jump right off the page.
There is even, if you wait it out and find yourself liking characters like Beth and Beebo, a happy ending of sorts...something almost unheard of for lesbians back then and, sometimes, even now.
I wish I could do these books the justice they deserve. Maybe, one day when I've had time to reread them, I can better capture how they can still speak to women decades later...
Ann Bannon, whose five highly addictive and surprisingly well-written books are so much better than their covers and reputation would have you believe, went for the latter in a frank, sincere and often very touching manner.
As Patricia Highsmith wrote in her afterward to The Price Of Salt (written around the same time as Bannon's books): "Homosexuals male and female in American novels had had to pay for their deviation by cutting their wrists, drowning themselves in a swimming pool, or by switching to heterosexuality (so it was stated), or by collapsing (alone and miserable and shunned ) into a depression equal to hell."
Odd Girl Out and other novels like it may seem terribly out of date in our more enlightened 21st century, but, sadly, for many (especially those women who live in conservative towns or have no one to reach out to who would support their coming out) Ann Bannon's books still have a lot to say, not just about the chills and thrills of being a woman first realizing she likes other women, but about love in general.
Sentences such as these could apply to anyone who has ever been on the cusp of love and been terribly afraid: "And in self-defense Laura tried to build a wall of politeness between them, to admire Beth from far away. There was a vague, strange feeling in the younger that to get close to Beth was to worship her, and to worship her was to get hurt."
After Odd Girl Out, there is: I Am A Woman, Women In The Shadows, Journey To A Woman and Beebo Brinker (actually a prequel even though it was written last.)
No matter what your orientation or beliefs, you may find all five books riveting, not only for their historical context in giving modern readers an idea of just how much has changed in the world of LGBT rights, but also because they do what any good book should: tell a compelling story with characters who jump right off the page.
There is even, if you wait it out and find yourself liking characters like Beth and Beebo, a happy ending of sorts...something almost unheard of for lesbians back then and, sometimes, even now.
I wish I could do these books the justice they deserve. Maybe, one day when I've had time to reread them, I can better capture how they can still speak to women decades later...
July 6, 2013
This was definitely worth reading. Not very well written but these are PULP novels after all. They are really important historical documents in GLBT history and literature. I was afraid they would be unreadable. Not at all. They are even quite compelling in a trashy sort of way. I found the third novel Women In The Shadows the most troubling. There were several plot twists that left me shaking my head and saying What? What? And the of course (spoiler alert)there is the inevitable going straight of the two main characters Laura and Jack. My favorite characters in the books are definitely Jack, the snarky cynical gay man tour guide of gay Greenwich Village who is in 3 of the 4 novels and has a heart of gold take in all the strays persona, and Beebo Brinker, the sexy, drunk and violent butch. Readers of today may find the books frustrating if they are looking for uplifting affirming GLBT stories of triumph. WRONG period of books to look at. These pulp novels were all subject to censorship as obscene materials via the US postal service since they were often sold mail order. Gay sex and relationships were illegal sexual perversions when these were written so portraying them positively would not have passed the censors. That said, the first novel (Odd Girl Out) and the last novel (Beebo Brinker) do end with the main characters having some agency and their lives have not been destroyed. Beebo Brinker actually does end on a positive note since it came out after the obscenity laws were successfully challenged and so a positive GL story could be sent through the mail legally at that point. Be prepared to see how GLBT life in the gay ghetto of NYC was portrayed as anguished, unfulfilling, drunken, violent, immature, dissipating and degenerate. Those were the prevailing attitudes about gay people then. And yet, GLBT people who lived through this period have also called these novels "survival literature." They would certainly have given gay people thinking they were the only ones some hope and a specific place in their minds to go to find other gay people. Given the restrictions Ann Bannon was writing under, she managed to explore in a very meaningful and sympathetic way the lives of these characters.
August 16, 2025
what a journey
also probably 2.5
i have a hard time figuring out what i think ab this series bc… was i fully entertained the whole 800+ pages… yes. but also laura is one of the most infuriating protagonists ive ever encountered
also probably 2.5
i have a hard time figuring out what i think ab this series bc… was i fully entertained the whole 800+ pages… yes. but also laura is one of the most infuriating protagonists ive ever encountered
July 4, 2008
May be a 3, but I enjoyed every minute.
December 18, 2017
I've actually read a fuller version of the Chronicles: mine included Odd Girl Out, I Am A Woman, Women In The Shadows, Journey To A Woman and the "prequel" Beebo Brinker. In addition, I read the Kindle edition, as I am running out of bookshelf space!
I must say these books absolutely amazed me. I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, during the 1950s and I never saw or even knew about pulp fiction for gay women. In fact, I don't think the censors would have let it into the country. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. The only book available for the general gay reader until the 1960s was the much more restrained Well of Loneliness, by Radclyffe Hall.
In these novels, Ann Bannon takes the interweaving stories of Laura Landon, Beth Cullison/Ayers, Jack Mann and of course Beebo Brinker and follows their tortuous history over several decades - in Beebo Brinker, Beebo is 18; by the time of Journey to a Woman she is in her 40s. Each book describes in vivid detail the extraordinary life-events and journeys each of the women makes in order to reach some accommodation with her nature. Laura Landon is the main focus of the first two: Odd Girl Out details her agonising affair with her sorority roomie, Beth; I am a Woman tells of her return home from college, after Beth has decided to marry Charlie. She finally strikes out on her own, going to New York and finding a job as a secretary. Much of this book details her horrific relationship with her father, with the discomfiting suggestion that this is what has caused her lesbianism. Laura slides downhill after a tumultuous period of being in love with her new flatmate, Marcie, then drifting into an affair with Beebo, who develops an obsession with her. She is brought out of it with the help of Jack, a great friend, albeit with his own problems.
The next book, Women in the Shadows, has some very unsavoury and dark moments. Laura and Beebo have been together two years and Laura is feeling stifled. Beebo succumbs to drinking and becomes so controlling they finally break up. Laura tries another relationship, this time with an exotic dancing teacher, but is mystified by her behaviour until she discovers the woman is married and black - rather than Indian, as she has been pretending. This episode manages to handle both interracial relationships and prevarication about being gay with admirable lack of prejudice.
Jack has also been going downhill since his boyfriend Terry has left him. He proposes a "lavender" marriage to Laura - they will not have sex, but will explore artificial insemination to have a child. After hearing of Beebo's further deterioration, culminating in a suicide attempt, Laura accepts and undergoes artificial insemination. Meantime, Terry, Jack's boyfriend, reappears, prompting an attempt by Laura to reconnect with Beebo, who has dragged herself back from the brink and is now a changed, less passionate and much more sensible woman. Laura and Beebo find, however, that they have lost the earlier passion they had for oneanother and Laura goes back to Jack. The novel ends when she discovers she is pregnant.
Journey to a Woman reintroduces Beth, who has married Charlie, had two children and discovered that she may have made a big mistake in marrying, rather than staying with Laura. She decides, after a tumultuous breakup with Charlie, to search for Laura. First, she goes to Chicago, Laura's home town, to meet Laura's father, to see if he knows where she is. It seems, from this meeting, that he has had a chance to reflect on his behaviour and has become saddened and more accepting of Laura - foreshadowing a possible reconciliation. He tells her Laura went to New York, so Beth - armed also with a contact to a writer of lesbian pulp novels - sets out to find her.
There is much more in this novel, as in the others. Beth does find Laura, but Laura has matured and is happy in her marriage to Jack. After a blissful reunion in which they make love, reality sets in and Laura finds she can only love Beth as a friend now. The rejected Beth hits the bars of Greenwich Village, but is rescued by Beebo, who takes her home with her so she can rest and sober up. Eventually, after hating her ghost for years, Beebo realizes she loves Beth and they go off into the sunset. Despite its pat ending, Journey to a Woman is really about Beth's journey to find herself; Laura, Jack and Beebo have all come to the same degree of acceptance and maturity - now it's Beth's turn.
The final novel is the prequel, introducing Beebo Brinker, a raw country girl from the farming midwest, who hits New York without a clue. Jack Mann discovers her and takes her home with him. He finds her a job and takes her to the bars. At this point, Beebo knows only that her attraction to women and her butch appearance are things to reject and be ashamed of. Jack patiently encourages her to find and accept herself and she starts an affair with Paula, who falls much harder than Beebo. Cue an introduction for Beebo to a sexy actress and a wild affair while working for her in Hollywood, which can only end in disaster! The actress is hopelessly trapped in her marriage to her controlling husband/manager, who can tolerate her affairs with men, but not escapades with women, which could ruin her career and his too. Beebo returns to New York and finds a deeper love with the patient, devoted Paula.
All the novels are enjoyable and can even be read on their own, although I liked having all of them. Many scenes are over-the-top melodramatic and there are aspects I found unacceptable - Beebo killing her dog and pretending a bunch of thugs did this and then gang-raped her, in order to get Laura back (she eventually owns up); Beth overcoming revulsion to make love to the disfigured, mentally frail Vega to name two of the worst. But all in all, I thought there was more to praise than damn. Bannon does character really well, including straights like Burr (Marcie's old man) and Laura's father. I could comment a lot more, but would probably need to concentrate on each book. For now, though, this is it.
I must say these books absolutely amazed me. I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, during the 1950s and I never saw or even knew about pulp fiction for gay women. In fact, I don't think the censors would have let it into the country. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. The only book available for the general gay reader until the 1960s was the much more restrained Well of Loneliness, by Radclyffe Hall.
In these novels, Ann Bannon takes the interweaving stories of Laura Landon, Beth Cullison/Ayers, Jack Mann and of course Beebo Brinker and follows their tortuous history over several decades - in Beebo Brinker, Beebo is 18; by the time of Journey to a Woman she is in her 40s. Each book describes in vivid detail the extraordinary life-events and journeys each of the women makes in order to reach some accommodation with her nature. Laura Landon is the main focus of the first two: Odd Girl Out details her agonising affair with her sorority roomie, Beth; I am a Woman tells of her return home from college, after Beth has decided to marry Charlie. She finally strikes out on her own, going to New York and finding a job as a secretary. Much of this book details her horrific relationship with her father, with the discomfiting suggestion that this is what has caused her lesbianism. Laura slides downhill after a tumultuous period of being in love with her new flatmate, Marcie, then drifting into an affair with Beebo, who develops an obsession with her. She is brought out of it with the help of Jack, a great friend, albeit with his own problems.
The next book, Women in the Shadows, has some very unsavoury and dark moments. Laura and Beebo have been together two years and Laura is feeling stifled. Beebo succumbs to drinking and becomes so controlling they finally break up. Laura tries another relationship, this time with an exotic dancing teacher, but is mystified by her behaviour until she discovers the woman is married and black - rather than Indian, as she has been pretending. This episode manages to handle both interracial relationships and prevarication about being gay with admirable lack of prejudice.
Jack has also been going downhill since his boyfriend Terry has left him. He proposes a "lavender" marriage to Laura - they will not have sex, but will explore artificial insemination to have a child. After hearing of Beebo's further deterioration, culminating in a suicide attempt, Laura accepts and undergoes artificial insemination. Meantime, Terry, Jack's boyfriend, reappears, prompting an attempt by Laura to reconnect with Beebo, who has dragged herself back from the brink and is now a changed, less passionate and much more sensible woman. Laura and Beebo find, however, that they have lost the earlier passion they had for oneanother and Laura goes back to Jack. The novel ends when she discovers she is pregnant.
Journey to a Woman reintroduces Beth, who has married Charlie, had two children and discovered that she may have made a big mistake in marrying, rather than staying with Laura. She decides, after a tumultuous breakup with Charlie, to search for Laura. First, she goes to Chicago, Laura's home town, to meet Laura's father, to see if he knows where she is. It seems, from this meeting, that he has had a chance to reflect on his behaviour and has become saddened and more accepting of Laura - foreshadowing a possible reconciliation. He tells her Laura went to New York, so Beth - armed also with a contact to a writer of lesbian pulp novels - sets out to find her.
There is much more in this novel, as in the others. Beth does find Laura, but Laura has matured and is happy in her marriage to Jack. After a blissful reunion in which they make love, reality sets in and Laura finds she can only love Beth as a friend now. The rejected Beth hits the bars of Greenwich Village, but is rescued by Beebo, who takes her home with her so she can rest and sober up. Eventually, after hating her ghost for years, Beebo realizes she loves Beth and they go off into the sunset. Despite its pat ending, Journey to a Woman is really about Beth's journey to find herself; Laura, Jack and Beebo have all come to the same degree of acceptance and maturity - now it's Beth's turn.
The final novel is the prequel, introducing Beebo Brinker, a raw country girl from the farming midwest, who hits New York without a clue. Jack Mann discovers her and takes her home with him. He finds her a job and takes her to the bars. At this point, Beebo knows only that her attraction to women and her butch appearance are things to reject and be ashamed of. Jack patiently encourages her to find and accept herself and she starts an affair with Paula, who falls much harder than Beebo. Cue an introduction for Beebo to a sexy actress and a wild affair while working for her in Hollywood, which can only end in disaster! The actress is hopelessly trapped in her marriage to her controlling husband/manager, who can tolerate her affairs with men, but not escapades with women, which could ruin her career and his too. Beebo returns to New York and finds a deeper love with the patient, devoted Paula.
All the novels are enjoyable and can even be read on their own, although I liked having all of them. Many scenes are over-the-top melodramatic and there are aspects I found unacceptable - Beebo killing her dog and pretending a bunch of thugs did this and then gang-raped her, in order to get Laura back (she eventually owns up); Beth overcoming revulsion to make love to the disfigured, mentally frail Vega to name two of the worst. But all in all, I thought there was more to praise than damn. Bannon does character really well, including straights like Burr (Marcie's old man) and Laura's father. I could comment a lot more, but would probably need to concentrate on each book. For now, though, this is it.
March 20, 2019
Kind of fun except for the rampant and startling violence. Much has changed for lesbians since the '50s, but some things never will. Each young woman comes of age as if it had never been done before.
July 30, 2015
"Classic" lezzie lit, but still semi-trashy pulp novels of the 50s. Groundbreaking, perhaps, but not literary. Important. Part of the LGBT canon. And much, much better than I thought they would be. Challenging in topic, if not in prose.
September 18, 2008
Must be a sister (really a sister) to enjoy this. 1950's.
Read
August 1, 2012What fun!
July 20, 2013
Great fun (well, maybe not for the characters) Lesbian pulp.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews