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The Cracked Looking-Glass
'She only wished to prove to herself she was once more on a train going somewhere'
A passionate, unfulfilled woman considers her life and her marriage in this moving novella by one of America's finest short story writers.
Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.
A passionate, unfulfilled woman considers her life and her marriage in this moving novella by one of America's finest short story writers.
Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.
64 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
8 people are currently reading
638 people want to read
About the author
Katherine Anne Porter
154 books351 followersKatherine Anne Porter was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. She is known for her penetrating insight; her works deal with dark themes such as betrayal, death and the origin of human evil.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherin...
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherin...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
September 25, 2025
3.5 stars
short review for busy readers:
Portrait of an age-gap marriage originally published in 1933. This is one of those stories where you can very much appreciate the artistry and ideas, but it's too drawn out and meandering to really think superb. Perhaps fans of older literary styles will enjoy it much more.
in detail:
Rosaleen, an Irishwoman who immigrated to America in her youth, is a romantic and a fun loving woman. She married Dennis, a good man more than 30 years her senior, because he had money and could offer her a stable life away from the prospect of remaining an impoverished Boston housemaid.
They've been married 25 years now, and Dennis is quickly becoming an elderly man in need of constant tending and care. (Their ages seem to be about 40 and 70) Rosaleen does genuinely feel a lot of affection for Dennis, but under the surface, she wants a man young enough to still have fun with.
Unfortunately, her neighbours have noticed her roving eyes...
Porter rather skilfully shows a marriage based on friendship and common benefit which has now run its course and is beginning to sour both partners. We peek in on both Rosaleen's and Dennis' thoughts, viewing first hand the contradictory feelings of affection, loyalty, pragmatism, desire and ego neither one of them wants to show too much of on the outside.
Extremely well done in that aspect, but the narrative on the whole takes in a lot of extraneous detail and plays the stereotypical Irish card a bit too much to feel like the story is going much of anywhere...until the very end.
This is one of Porter's lesser known stories and no free PDF of it seems to exist.
short review for busy readers:
Portrait of an age-gap marriage originally published in 1933. This is one of those stories where you can very much appreciate the artistry and ideas, but it's too drawn out and meandering to really think superb. Perhaps fans of older literary styles will enjoy it much more.
in detail:
Rosaleen, an Irishwoman who immigrated to America in her youth, is a romantic and a fun loving woman. She married Dennis, a good man more than 30 years her senior, because he had money and could offer her a stable life away from the prospect of remaining an impoverished Boston housemaid.
They've been married 25 years now, and Dennis is quickly becoming an elderly man in need of constant tending and care. (Their ages seem to be about 40 and 70) Rosaleen does genuinely feel a lot of affection for Dennis, but under the surface, she wants a man young enough to still have fun with.
Unfortunately, her neighbours have noticed her roving eyes...
Porter rather skilfully shows a marriage based on friendship and common benefit which has now run its course and is beginning to sour both partners. We peek in on both Rosaleen's and Dennis' thoughts, viewing first hand the contradictory feelings of affection, loyalty, pragmatism, desire and ego neither one of them wants to show too much of on the outside.
Extremely well done in that aspect, but the narrative on the whole takes in a lot of extraneous detail and plays the stereotypical Irish card a bit too much to feel like the story is going much of anywhere...until the very end.
This is one of Porter's lesser known stories and no free PDF of it seems to exist.
July 22, 2019
Beautifully done story about a woman married to a much older man, who finds herself discontent with her life as he begins to show unwelcome signs of his age. Rosaleen thinks about her past, younger men who still admire her, and the disadvantages of being married to someone who is no longer the virile and strong man she married.
Porter does a marvelous job of imagining both sides of this situation and resolves it in a way that I found most satisfying. It reads like a novel more than a short story, being long enough to give some true character and plot development.
Porter does a marvelous job of imagining both sides of this situation and resolves it in a way that I found most satisfying. It reads like a novel more than a short story, being long enough to give some true character and plot development.
October 16, 2022
[3.5] This is a wistful, well-done story about a woman who is reconsidering her marriage and choices as her older husband becomes elderly. I will read more Porter.
September 7, 2018
The thirty-seventh book on the Penguin Moderns list, The Cracked Looking-Glass by American author Katherine Anne Porter, was one which I was particularly intrigued by. In this story, which was first published in 1922, 'a passionately unfulfilled woman considers her life and her marriage'. This woman is named Rosaleen; she has been married to Dennis, thirty years her senior, for over two decades, and the pair live on a farm in rural Connecticut.
I particularly enjoyed the opening scenes of the story, in which Porter sets both scenes, and the complexities of marriage, with precision and beauty. She writes: 'Dennis heard Rosaleen talking in the kitchen and a man's voice answering. He sat with his hands dangling over his knees, and thought for the hundredth time that sometimes Rosaleen's voice was company to him, and other days he wished all day long she didn't have so much to say about everything.'
Porter is so aware of her characters' flaws, and how these adapt with the passing of time. During their anniversary dinner, for instance, 'He looked at her sitting across the table from him and thought she was a very fine woman, noticed again her red hair and yellow eyelashes and big arms and strong big teeth, and wondered what she thought of him now he was no human good to her. Here he was, all gone, and he had been so for years, and he felt guilt sometimes before Rosaleen, who couldn't always understand how there comes a time when man is finished, and there is no more to be done that way.'
The Cracked Looking-Glass is quite tender in places. Of Rosaleen, Porter writes: 'She wished now she'd had a dozen children instead of the one that died in two days. This half-forgotten child suddenly lived again her, she began to weep for him with all the freshness of her first agony; now he would be a fine grown man and the dear love of her heart.' Given that this is a short story, there is a lot of depth here, and we learn a lot about the pasts of the characters, and how this has affected their present-day lives.
The looking glass of the story's title is square in shape, and positioned in the living room. 'There was,' writes Porter, 'a ripple in the glass and a crack across the middle, and it was like seeing your face in water.' Throughout the story, Rosaleen views herself in it, and Porter records her thoughts. With this technique, and the scenes which she records, Porter has been able to create a fascinating portrait of a complex and complicated, and incredibly realistic, woman. The Cracked Looking-Glass also presents a searing portrait of a troubled marriage in a skilfully crafted way. I was reminded somewhat of Katherine Mansfield whilst I was reading, one of the highest accolades which I could give; not so much because of Porter's prose style, but due to the way in which she builds her characters and their histories.
I particularly enjoyed the opening scenes of the story, in which Porter sets both scenes, and the complexities of marriage, with precision and beauty. She writes: 'Dennis heard Rosaleen talking in the kitchen and a man's voice answering. He sat with his hands dangling over his knees, and thought for the hundredth time that sometimes Rosaleen's voice was company to him, and other days he wished all day long she didn't have so much to say about everything.'
Porter is so aware of her characters' flaws, and how these adapt with the passing of time. During their anniversary dinner, for instance, 'He looked at her sitting across the table from him and thought she was a very fine woman, noticed again her red hair and yellow eyelashes and big arms and strong big teeth, and wondered what she thought of him now he was no human good to her. Here he was, all gone, and he had been so for years, and he felt guilt sometimes before Rosaleen, who couldn't always understand how there comes a time when man is finished, and there is no more to be done that way.'
The Cracked Looking-Glass is quite tender in places. Of Rosaleen, Porter writes: 'She wished now she'd had a dozen children instead of the one that died in two days. This half-forgotten child suddenly lived again her, she began to weep for him with all the freshness of her first agony; now he would be a fine grown man and the dear love of her heart.' Given that this is a short story, there is a lot of depth here, and we learn a lot about the pasts of the characters, and how this has affected their present-day lives.
The looking glass of the story's title is square in shape, and positioned in the living room. 'There was,' writes Porter, 'a ripple in the glass and a crack across the middle, and it was like seeing your face in water.' Throughout the story, Rosaleen views herself in it, and Porter records her thoughts. With this technique, and the scenes which she records, Porter has been able to create a fascinating portrait of a complex and complicated, and incredibly realistic, woman. The Cracked Looking-Glass also presents a searing portrait of a troubled marriage in a skilfully crafted way. I was reminded somewhat of Katherine Mansfield whilst I was reading, one of the highest accolades which I could give; not so much because of Porter's prose style, but due to the way in which she builds her characters and their histories.
October 31, 2024
Incredibly strange and hard to grasp, a woman falling out of love with her older husband? A roaming array of dialogue and strange prose, unsure what the point was.
January 14, 2025
37/50 of my Penguin Modern Boxset.
Not the worst, but among them. This starts nowhere, it goes nowhere, and it only looks behind. Its pace, tone, direction, and message didn't match to me, and the book left almost no impression. The thought about the potential challenges of age gaps in marriage is interesting but I don't think it was developed or explored well at all. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, there is simply better out there, the book won on no counts for me over every other book I can think of. I just don't know what would motivate me to seek this author out further when they write about a timeless topic - marital difficulty - that has and will continue to be explored better by countless other authors.
Not the worst, but among them. This starts nowhere, it goes nowhere, and it only looks behind. Its pace, tone, direction, and message didn't match to me, and the book left almost no impression. The thought about the potential challenges of age gaps in marriage is interesting but I don't think it was developed or explored well at all. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, there is simply better out there, the book won on no counts for me over every other book I can think of. I just don't know what would motivate me to seek this author out further when they write about a timeless topic - marital difficulty - that has and will continue to be explored better by countless other authors.
January 9, 2023
A short story about an unhappy marriage with a 30-year age gap (she must be around 40, he’s around 70), tenderly told. She feels unfulfilled and nostalgic about memories of offers of love and intimacy gone by; he feels guilty about the decrepitude brought by his age and resentful of his passionate wife’s tendency to talk idly and embellish her life to others. It seemed a realistic portrayal of old age and two discontented people stuck together, with nothing to look forward to and past opportunities so irrevocably distant as to be unreal.
October 2, 2025
The Cracked Looking Glass by Katherine Anne Porter
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
- What is the significance of the title?
- I was thinking about that.
A simple answer would just mention the Cracked Looking Glass that the heroine wants to change.
- But isn't this a metaphor?
- Perhaps Rosaleen, the main character sees the world
- Through A Glass Darkly,
Like in the famed Scandinavian masterpiece.
From the start, we learn that her husband, Dennis is upset with her continuous talking.
When she's not talking to humans, she talks to her cats.
There is a rift that seems to be growing between husband and wife.
Dennis is about thirty years older and Rosaleen is his second wife.
He wishes she was his first and only spouse, but he is also annoyed with her aforementioned verbosity and some her ways.
The considerable age difference does not help.
He is beginning to act like an old man, but Rosaleen is not faultless either.
She keeps talking about her extravagant dreams and apparitions.
In one, a Billy- cat they had disappeared, only to come after three days and Tell her where he died.
He was caught in a trap, retrieved and buried next to his home.
But the idea of the talking cat sounds preposterous and aggravates Dennis even more when it is told to a salesman.
That salesman is another grievance, for the husband hears Rosaleen with her tall tales:
My husband is not in his best form, but in his day he could beat up anyone and throw in the dust. He would take them out afterwards, but he was so powerful!!
Dennis is thinking in the other room how he has always been tall and thin and barely had one confrontation in his life...
Words to that effect, I do not quote what either of them was thinking or saying.
Rosaleen is buying things from this smooth operator and her husband is not happy with that either.
One night, she has a dream about her sister being really sick and decides to travel. To Boston.
One thing I liked about Dennis is that throughout these experiences, strange dreams and impossible claims he thinks one thing, but he says what is expected.
He never dismisses the absurd allegations, even if we "hear" him saying to himself
That is nonsense
In Boston, Rosaleen is disappointed and then outraged.
First, the dream proves to be just that and not an accurate information.
The sister is nowhere to be found, never mind cared for or helped.
Then she meets this destitute Irish young man, for whom she feels compassion.
Both Rosaleen and her husband are Irish, living on a farm in Connecticut.
Impressed with the story of this poor man, she offers him a meal and gives him ten dollars, an important sum in those days.
She even invites him to come and work, and live with them.
To this, her interlocutor says something like:
Oh, that is dangerous, I met this fair lady, just like you and it was so strange, with her husband looking all the time through the key hole...
Overwhelmed, Rosaleen puts this offender in his place.
This is a complex, dazzling short story.
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
- What is the significance of the title?
- I was thinking about that.
A simple answer would just mention the Cracked Looking Glass that the heroine wants to change.
- But isn't this a metaphor?
- Perhaps Rosaleen, the main character sees the world
- Through A Glass Darkly,
Like in the famed Scandinavian masterpiece.
From the start, we learn that her husband, Dennis is upset with her continuous talking.
When she's not talking to humans, she talks to her cats.
There is a rift that seems to be growing between husband and wife.
Dennis is about thirty years older and Rosaleen is his second wife.
He wishes she was his first and only spouse, but he is also annoyed with her aforementioned verbosity and some her ways.
The considerable age difference does not help.
He is beginning to act like an old man, but Rosaleen is not faultless either.
She keeps talking about her extravagant dreams and apparitions.
In one, a Billy- cat they had disappeared, only to come after three days and Tell her where he died.
He was caught in a trap, retrieved and buried next to his home.
But the idea of the talking cat sounds preposterous and aggravates Dennis even more when it is told to a salesman.
That salesman is another grievance, for the husband hears Rosaleen with her tall tales:
My husband is not in his best form, but in his day he could beat up anyone and throw in the dust. He would take them out afterwards, but he was so powerful!!
Dennis is thinking in the other room how he has always been tall and thin and barely had one confrontation in his life...
Words to that effect, I do not quote what either of them was thinking or saying.
Rosaleen is buying things from this smooth operator and her husband is not happy with that either.
One night, she has a dream about her sister being really sick and decides to travel. To Boston.
One thing I liked about Dennis is that throughout these experiences, strange dreams and impossible claims he thinks one thing, but he says what is expected.
He never dismisses the absurd allegations, even if we "hear" him saying to himself
That is nonsense
In Boston, Rosaleen is disappointed and then outraged.
First, the dream proves to be just that and not an accurate information.
The sister is nowhere to be found, never mind cared for or helped.
Then she meets this destitute Irish young man, for whom she feels compassion.
Both Rosaleen and her husband are Irish, living on a farm in Connecticut.
Impressed with the story of this poor man, she offers him a meal and gives him ten dollars, an important sum in those days.
She even invites him to come and work, and live with them.
To this, her interlocutor says something like:
Oh, that is dangerous, I met this fair lady, just like you and it was so strange, with her husband looking all the time through the key hole...
Overwhelmed, Rosaleen puts this offender in his place.
This is a complex, dazzling short story.
December 18, 2023
An evocative, moving tale of Irish immigrant life in early twentieth century America, particularly impactful in conveying the sense of something lost and the American Dream not being fulfilled, along with the strife and hate faced not only by those more established there but often their own who are similarly struggling to make ends meet.
July 30, 2018
This book is a weird one because while I did enjoy reading it, I can’t think of anything in particular to highlight. The best parts were just little lines of dialogue, but the stories were decent as well.
November 6, 2023
Beautiful and sad
October 9, 2025
This short novella portrays an Irish couple living in Connecticut in the 1930’s. Rosaleen is not only slightly unhappy, but also a bit strange. She takes her dreams very seriously and is a professional yapper, which her husband Dennis finds deeply unamusing.
Not much happens in the store, the writing is pleasant but it does feel like you are going nowhere (or just going right back to where you started). The narrative just didn’t do it for me.
Not much happens in the store, the writing is pleasant but it does feel like you are going nowhere (or just going right back to where you started). The narrative just didn’t do it for me.
July 19, 2025
2.5 stars! very underwhelming unfortunately.
September 9, 2025
'The world is a wilderness,' she informed the crickets and frogs and fireflies.
On the one hand, I wish this work were longer so we could explore Rosaleen's descent into her lost hopes and dreams further, on the other — I couldn't wait for it to finish already.
On the one hand, I wish this work were longer so we could explore Rosaleen's descent into her lost hopes and dreams further, on the other — I couldn't wait for it to finish already.
January 16, 2019
Well that was disappointing, a well written book of nothing. A young girl marries a man thirty years older than herself, moans and whines about it until the end.
If Katherine Porter is considered one of America's finest short-story writers, then please, don't let me read the bad ones.
If Katherine Porter is considered one of America's finest short-story writers, then please, don't let me read the bad ones.
March 19, 2020
Porter hid a bunch of messages between the words regarding life, dreams, illusions about the world, marriage and how you change with the person beside you, and you should be the one to uncover them by reading this captivating novel.
March 10, 2023
Beautiful novella about a woman who married an older man, now working out what to make of her quiet life in the countryside in Connecticut. Realistic portrayal of marriage for its setting. Wistful rather than sad; “She was wondering what had become of her life; every day she had thought something great was going to happen, and it was all just straying from one disappointment to another.” Highly likeable protagonist and loved her little taste of independence when she travels to Boston to try and see her sister. Can’t help feeling Rosaleen goes on to live a fuller and more exciting life when her aging husband dies. Would love to read more by this writer!
December 8, 2023
Although the writing was ok, I found the story a bit boring - a couple living in rural America with a big age gap, which perfectly shows how ill matched they are. I was expecting a bit more drama, an unexpected twist, but that didn´t happen...
May 5, 2019
The book started with thrill but as the plot goes up the story becomes lucid. Lots of extra pulling of the situation . I don't want to recommend this .
April 26, 2021
Beautifully written short story with a lot of attention for tiny details and dialogue.
June 21, 2021
Sometimes you read a book and it's not bad but it just makes no impression on you. I think this was one of those.
February 26, 2023
this is my first ever classic that ive ever picked up & actually finished it? so technically, i couldn’t really understand what’s really happening in here but yea i just you know
June 26, 2025
bit boring, i gained basically nothing from reading this. 3 stars because at least there was a well structured story
March 18, 2021
2.5 out of 5 stars
I thought about it for some time and decided that this should probably be smack in the middle of the scale I use.
Happy reading!
I thought about it for some time and decided that this should probably be smack in the middle of the scale I use.
Happy reading!
August 1, 2023
My personal hell
April 16, 2020
A short novella in a series that is great for introducing readers to new (and old) authors in bite-sized chunks.
This does convey a lot in a few pages. You near enough get to read about an entire life (up the the present when it was written.) There is no real plot or progression but it does evoke a sense of belonging and how a character doesn't feel like they do.
3 stars. Worth a look but also nothing groundbreaking here.
This does convey a lot in a few pages. You near enough get to read about an entire life (up the the present when it was written.) There is no real plot or progression but it does evoke a sense of belonging and how a character doesn't feel like they do.
3 stars. Worth a look but also nothing groundbreaking here.
January 28, 2025
maybe i should read more short stories. book was interesting / did not go how i expected. kinda hopeful but lowkey… idk
June 27, 2023
'She was wondering what had become of her life; everyday she had thought something great was going to happen, and it was all just straying from one terrible disappointment to another'
nothing truely remaekable, at least not for me? It got me out of a slump tho
nothing truely remaekable, at least not for me? It got me out of a slump tho
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews