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The Truth About Lorin Jones
This 1988 novel follows Polly Alter, who is researching a book about Lorin Jones, a brilliant painter who died too young, through a series of encounters with people in her own life and people in Lorin's... toward what she hopes will be the truth about Lorin Jones.
328 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1988
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519 people want to read
About the author
Alison Lurie
63 books206 followersAlison Stewart Lurie was an American novelist and academic. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her 1984 novel Foreign Affairs. Although better known as a novelist, she wrote many non-fiction books and articles, particularly on children's literature and the semiotics of dress.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
December 28, 2010
There is something dated about this book (published 1988), but if you are willing to accept that, then the book can be very enjoyable. Polly Alter, 39, a recently divorced feminist who makes a living on the fringes of the art world of NYC, decides to write a biography of Lorin Jones, a female painter whose works are gaining appreciation almost 20 years after her death. At the onset, Polly is convinced that Lorin was mistreated, silenced and exploited by the male chauvinist pigs in her life. But was she? As she conducts more and more interviews with people who knew Lorin Jones, she realizes that Lorin, far from being a helpless victim, did her own share of exploiting and using. How can a biography that tells the truth about Lorin Jones remain true to her feminist principles? On top of this professional dilemma, she is torn apart by the fact that her teenage son decides to spend a semester with his dad in far-away Colorado. Before she knows it, she has one, then two Lesbian housemates who turn out to be far from good friends.
The outdated aspect of the book is the old-style feminism that Polly and her friends espouse. Men are the enemy, and women have a monopoly on goodwill, that type of thing. This is taken to comedic extremes by Jeanne, a lipstick Lesbian who manipulates Polly into accomodating first herself, then her girlfriend Betsy, in Polly's apartment. The scene where Jeanne and Betsy try to convince Polly to send her son to a far-away boarding school, or, at the very least, to stow him away in the cramped spare room while they continue to occupy his room, made me both wince and laugh.
I would say that this book has two themes. The first is that every life is lived in shades of grey. No one is all "good" or all "bad", just like some people remember Lorin Jones as a ruthless opportunist and others as a kind aunt. The second theme is a critique of a specific type of feminism that dictates that everything a woman does is by definition noble, especially if her actions manage to cause embarassment or pain to a man.
All of this is rolled into a very well-written story with a protagonist who engages our sympathies. Polly's own experiences and needs, especially her desire to have her son live with her, and her heterosexuality, conflict with her feminist principles. She also comes to the conclusion that her so-called feminist friend Jeanne is a hypocrite : Jeanne uses the same classical feminine wiles (tears, pouting, then extreme devotion to home-making) to manipulate Polly into letting her stay in the apartment that Jeanne herself condemns in women in heterosexual relationships. Sometimes you want to shake Polly, sometimes you want to shout at her to stop being so silly, but in the end, you root for her to make the right decision. And on the very last pages, it does appear like she will.
The outdated aspect of the book is the old-style feminism that Polly and her friends espouse. Men are the enemy, and women have a monopoly on goodwill, that type of thing. This is taken to comedic extremes by Jeanne, a lipstick Lesbian who manipulates Polly into accomodating first herself, then her girlfriend Betsy, in Polly's apartment. The scene where Jeanne and Betsy try to convince Polly to send her son to a far-away boarding school, or, at the very least, to stow him away in the cramped spare room while they continue to occupy his room, made me both wince and laugh.
I would say that this book has two themes. The first is that every life is lived in shades of grey. No one is all "good" or all "bad", just like some people remember Lorin Jones as a ruthless opportunist and others as a kind aunt. The second theme is a critique of a specific type of feminism that dictates that everything a woman does is by definition noble, especially if her actions manage to cause embarassment or pain to a man.
All of this is rolled into a very well-written story with a protagonist who engages our sympathies. Polly's own experiences and needs, especially her desire to have her son live with her, and her heterosexuality, conflict with her feminist principles. She also comes to the conclusion that her so-called feminist friend Jeanne is a hypocrite : Jeanne uses the same classical feminine wiles (tears, pouting, then extreme devotion to home-making) to manipulate Polly into letting her stay in the apartment that Jeanne herself condemns in women in heterosexual relationships. Sometimes you want to shake Polly, sometimes you want to shout at her to stop being so silly, but in the end, you root for her to make the right decision. And on the very last pages, it does appear like she will.
May 28, 2012
Trounced by my inability to absolutely love every page of Gravity’s Rainbow like I was foolishly expecting (but secretly pleased to be contrary all the same) I decided to read something appropriately oppositional instead, filched from a friend’s mother’s sister’s library. And you can’t get less reliable than a friend’s mother’s sister’s library. Or in this case, you can. This novel boasts more hateful feminists than a backstage at a Le Tigre concert and more oleaginous male chauvinists than backstage at a Garth Brooks concert. The protagonist Polly is trying to write a book on mysterious painter (see title) Lorin Jones (ha, fooled you!) who she believes was ruined by patriarchal attitudes. She later learns this wasn’t the case and she was the absolute bitch. That’s your novel. Quite cunning and quite clever, workwomanlike on the prose level. But better than the first sixty-nine pages of Gravity’s Rainbow.
February 12, 2022
I love the characters that Alison Lurie creates, so human and so flawed. She has a gentle, wicked sense of humor when describing the art scene in New York, and the feminist movement of the 1970s. Polly is an unhappy divorced woman and single mother who despises men. She decides to write a biography of her heroine, an artist named Lorin Jones, because she identifies with her treatment by the masculine world. In the end, though, Polly finds that she and her muse aren’t much alike after all. It’s a very readable novel and with a good ending, too.
November 3, 2016
I first read this around fifteen years ago. I remember liking it fine, but not much else. It's been on my bookshelf since then, unnoticed, until this Christmas when my 86-year-old mother took it down and started reading. I'd forgotten all about it, but since, like the book's protagonist, I'm also an art historian turned writer, working on the lives of women artists, I knew I had to read it again (though my mom didn't love it). So as soon as she was done, I picked it up.
A satire (though loving) of feminism, biography, the art world, artists, poets, lovers, lesbians & heteros. What's not to like? Polly Alter, failed painter turned art historian turned feminist biographer, doesn't know her own mind. Or libido. Or much of anything anymore. And she's turned to researching the life of one of her favorite painters, Lorin Jones, who died too young but left an inspiring oeuvre behind. Maybe understanding LJ will help her understand herself. Suspecting the artist's death was, literally or emotionally, on the hands of her male husband, dealer, father, lover, brother, Polly sets out to unearth the truth. What she finds surprises and changes her.
This isn't a deep book, necessarily, but it's beautifully crafted and plotted and, to my mind, utterly satisfying. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
A satire (though loving) of feminism, biography, the art world, artists, poets, lovers, lesbians & heteros. What's not to like? Polly Alter, failed painter turned art historian turned feminist biographer, doesn't know her own mind. Or libido. Or much of anything anymore. And she's turned to researching the life of one of her favorite painters, Lorin Jones, who died too young but left an inspiring oeuvre behind. Maybe understanding LJ will help her understand herself. Suspecting the artist's death was, literally or emotionally, on the hands of her male husband, dealer, father, lover, brother, Polly sets out to unearth the truth. What she finds surprises and changes her.
This isn't a deep book, necessarily, but it's beautifully crafted and plotted and, to my mind, utterly satisfying. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
May 2, 2011
It's an easy read, and it keeps you interested, but you have to wade through all of the (and I never thought I would say this but) feminist bullshit. Which is so heavy handed that it must be there to make a point, and in the end, the point is obvious, but BLEH. I don't like seeing feminists as villians. I also don't like seeing the ugly underbelly of the art world. So, I guess it's just me.
December 22, 2009
An excellent novel. Not only is it a good story, but it is so readably written that I am clear through its 328 pages in only a couple of days after having it recommended to me. As one of the blurbs on the back says, you can look at it like a modern Pride and Prejudice, showing you by concentrating on a small group of characters what relationships were like for everybody in a bygone society. Only in this case the bygone society is the American artsy crowd in 1988. You'll care about Polly Alter, the insecure protagonist of The Truth About Lorin Jones, as much as you cared about finding husbands for the Austen women. I speak obliquely so as not to tell you the plot, for it's quite an interesting plot and you should have the pleasure of hearing about it from Alison Lurie, not from me. She's written some other novels, and I'll look forward to them as well.
January 2, 2015
I first read this around fifteen years ago. I remember liking it fine, but not much else. It's been on my bookshelf since then, unnoticed, until this Christmas when my 86-year-old mother took it down and started reading. I'd forgotten all about it, but since, like the book's protagonist, I'm also an art historian turned writer, working on the lives of women artists, I knew I had to read it again (though my mom didn't love it). So as soon as she was done, I picked it up.
A satire (though loving) of feminism, biography, the art world, artists, poets, lovers, lesbians & heteros. What's not to like? Polly Alter, failed painter turned art historian turned feminist biographer, doesn't know her own mind. Or libido. Or much of anything anymore. And she's turned to researching the life of one of her favorite painters, Lorin Jones, who died too young but left an inspiring oeuvre behind. Maybe understanding LJ will help her understand herself. Suspecting the artist's death was, literally or emotionally, on the hands of her male husband, dealer, father, lover, brother, Polly sets out to unearth the truth. What she finds surprises and changes her.
This isn't a deep book, necessarily, but it's beautifully crafted and plotted and, to my mind, utterly satisfying. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
A satire (though loving) of feminism, biography, the art world, artists, poets, lovers, lesbians & heteros. What's not to like? Polly Alter, failed painter turned art historian turned feminist biographer, doesn't know her own mind. Or libido. Or much of anything anymore. And she's turned to researching the life of one of her favorite painters, Lorin Jones, who died too young but left an inspiring oeuvre behind. Maybe understanding LJ will help her understand herself. Suspecting the artist's death was, literally or emotionally, on the hands of her male husband, dealer, father, lover, brother, Polly sets out to unearth the truth. What she finds surprises and changes her.
This isn't a deep book, necessarily, but it's beautifully crafted and plotted and, to my mind, utterly satisfying. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
July 5, 2017
We all know that Alison Lurie writes extremely well, so it is no surprise her The Truth About Lorin Jones is interesting and suspenseful. This is the story of a 39 year old intelligent, divorced New York mother who plans to write the biography of a female artist who lived and died mysteriously 20 years earlier. Lurie is quite sly and some of her dialog very witty, but her beautiful protagonist is far too malleable, believing the version of Lorin Jones given her by each person she interviews. I also thought it takes her far too long--since she's a smart woman--to solve her own problems in connection with the best friend who comes to share her apartment. Still a very good book. Recommended.
November 21, 2010
Polly a feminist, researches into the life of artist Lorin Jones. She ends up with a kaleidoscopic character, seen differently by different people and depending on interpretation. Reminded me of studying literature in the 80's and being obliged to give 'marxist' or 'feminist' readings. Do students still have to do that? Even at the time it struck me as a very telescopic view.
Polly becomes unstuck as her preconceptions are challenged.
A delight. The blurb likens Lurie to Jane Austen. Maybe, as she with a very light touch reveals the duplicity of human behaviour.
Polly becomes unstuck as her preconceptions are challenged.
A delight. The blurb likens Lurie to Jane Austen. Maybe, as she with a very light touch reveals the duplicity of human behaviour.
April 14, 2017
Polly has a dilemma. She is writing a book about a deceased artist known to most of the world as a talented artist, but to other family and friends who know her as an eccentric person. How will writing the book affect Polly as a person? How will the book impact her own life? This is a terrific character study.
February 8, 2017
Good story
For most of the book, I was a little irritated by the angry (possible) lesbian, man-hating protagonist. She was unreasonable and unfair to just about every man, while being thoroughly taken advantage of by her friend Jeanne and unable to see that. I didn't look at the copyright date but it screams 70s. But she learns and grows. Ultimately I really enjoyed the book.
For most of the book, I was a little irritated by the angry (possible) lesbian, man-hating protagonist. She was unreasonable and unfair to just about every man, while being thoroughly taken advantage of by her friend Jeanne and unable to see that. I didn't look at the copyright date but it screams 70s. But she learns and grows. Ultimately I really enjoyed the book.
August 12, 2012
I do like Alison Lurie's books. I didn't mind it being dated/overly strongly opinionated. She writes with confidence and verve and I found Polly to be sympathetic (if easily swayed!). The structure of the novel worked well with the interviews adding different voices.
May 5, 2016
This book, a product of the 1980s, is a comedic attack on the more extreme proponents of feminism--a brave effort for any contemporary female writer and reminiscent of Henry James's "The Bostonians" a century ago. I did not originate this comparison, but, having read it in college, I agree with it.
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February 19, 2024The truth about Lorin Jones is ultimately the truth about every person. Select a person; ideally someone relatively recently dead; then ask 15-20 people who knew the person to describe their character and general personality. There will not be a single truth. We are all multiple (as Walt Whitman might have put it) and there is/will be always more than one truth about us. Lurie conveys this 'truth' effectively through the efforts of her protagonist to research and write a biographer of deceased semi-famous painter, Lorin Jones (whom readers already may know under another name from Only Children). Ultimately, some kind of choice must be made. Inevitably, some others will disapprove of "Polly's" choices. That's life.
September 13, 2023
I’ve read a lot of novels by this author, and this is the first one I actively disliked.
December 17, 2020
I was fairly bored until about two thirds of the book and then it became unputdownable (I remembered I had felt the same with "Foreign Affairs"). As typical of Alison Lurie novels, this is a rich character study, focusing on the difficulty to apprehend anyone's full personality and the danger of prejudice in relationships.
April 1, 2025
I’m not certain where to start with this book. (It was one of several books in a box from a library sale last year; also, I hadn’t heard of this author.) I do know I got bored with it about halfway through when the story suddenly tilted. By the last few chapters I was nearly ready to throw the book.
I don’t know if I’ll check out another book by this author. I try to give authors at least two books before I decide if this is someone else’s cup of tea.
I don’t know if I’ll check out another book by this author. I try to give authors at least two books before I decide if this is someone else’s cup of tea.
June 24, 2014
That would be a suck book! While you are reading you just feel like wasting your time！ when you keep reading you just wasting more!i don't know how Polly should make herself a lesbian just because you slept with an woman!or raped by a woman! While this women keep reminding you that males are lier, raper or selfish! But i think she is the most selfish one! Jean and her lesbian lover!selfish and fake person! Super feminist! Even for a 14years kids! I couldn't know how people can be like this and she was pretending to be a god!
I think for sexual it's nature or born with! Either for female or male! You can't be a lesbian that you hate all the guy in the world! Anyway in this book the women are too narrow only live in they own world!that makes me annoy so much !course I am the one who aways into charming female but I do have very close girl friends as well! And for this kind of things you should just follow your instinct!
I think for sexual it's nature or born with! Either for female or male! You can't be a lesbian that you hate all the guy in the world! Anyway in this book the women are too narrow only live in they own world!that makes me annoy so much !course I am the one who aways into charming female but I do have very close girl friends as well! And for this kind of things you should just follow your instinct!
April 24, 2012
I used to covet these Abacus editions of Alison Lurie's books while hanging out in the Old Brompton Road branch of Waterstone's in the early 1990s. The surprising thing is that I never read any of them at the time. I found this one on Darren's shelves, complete with bus ticket bookmark (the 373, October 1992). It's still taken me a long time to get to read it, and Darren says he never did finish it.
It's six years since I read Foreign Affairs and I need to get round to the rest of Lurie's books faster than that! I loved this. Mostly it plods along nicely (which I mean as a compliment!) and then the ending is great. I think I'm better off reading them at 40 than 20 so I'm glad I left them on the shelves for so many years.
It's six years since I read Foreign Affairs and I need to get round to the rest of Lurie's books faster than that! I loved this. Mostly it plods along nicely (which I mean as a compliment!) and then the ending is great. I think I'm better off reading them at 40 than 20 so I'm glad I left them on the shelves for so many years.
December 28, 2015
Everyone has a different opinion on who you are, that's what this book is all about for me. Everyone seem to see or know Lorin in a version or another. The only thing they all agree in is that she's gifted.
At the end of the book, I had a thought: Maybe we all have many versions of ourselves.
Who knows, right? How do your high school friends really see you? Your family? Your workmates? Maybe in one circle you're the good noodle, and in another you're just an asshole. :)
All in all it's a good book, it's just that I don't like this writing style, or this genre, and so I'm giving it a three.
At the end of the book, I had a thought: Maybe we all have many versions of ourselves.
Who knows, right? How do your high school friends really see you? Your family? Your workmates? Maybe in one circle you're the good noodle, and in another you're just an asshole. :)
All in all it's a good book, it's just that I don't like this writing style, or this genre, and so I'm giving it a three.
July 28, 2007
In truth, I remember nothing about this book except that I read it for a class and liked it enough to read another Alison Lurie, also involving Cape Cod, that I liked even better but remember nothing about, including the title. So I'm giving this one 3 stars because that seems to be the most logical thing to do.
January 4, 2013
Read this aloud to my husband when we were dating. I'd read while he cooked. We both enjoyed it, but it wasn't the best book ever. Polly is a little irritating and we both kept groaning over the heavy-handed feminism. I think we liked it more as an experience than either of us would have if we read it to ourselves.
August 12, 2007
The novel appears to have something to do with feminism... When I figure out what, I'll let you know. (Just kidding...kind of.) In the meantime, it's engaging enough to keep reading. The main character is irritating, but I am curious what will happen to her.
September 17, 2010
Sort of a chatty novel, mildly interesting, and not so deep. A female art historian does research for a book about a gifted and troubled woman who is a painter, feels identified with her subject for a while, confused about her own identity and future. But, it all works out in the end.
February 18, 2017
D'abord très agacée par ce qui ressemblait à une thèse féministe caricaturale, j'ai enfin été captivée par le récit quand il est devenu (bien après le milieu !) plus subtil, et parfois assez drôle. La réflexion sur les difficultés de l'écriture d'une biographie est intéressante.
June 9, 2008
I love this book! I have read it several times and have bought many copies for friends.
May 2, 2011
My favorite book by Alison Lurie. May 2011: ok, I just read it again for book club. I'm glad to say that I still liked it. Maybe I don't appreciate subtlety very much.
July 27, 2011
OUI!!!!
November 8, 2011
Funny satire of feminist perspectives.
September 28, 2012
Easy and fun
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews