Maggie Logan’s Reviews > Madonna in a Fur Coat > Status Update

we know what happened, we all know what happened. I’m struggling to finish. I find Ralph’s consistent, almost lethargic distain for living life, and seeing the world in any form of light incredibly irritating to read. I still don’t appreciate how he conducted himself previously, however, the the joy him and maria took in the mundanity of life, was quite sweet and enjoyable.

I spoke too soon, he is psychotic. The disturbing abusive nature of the quote “I conjured up mad scenes that had more than a little in common with my childhood fantasies, except they were even bloodier and more improbable splendid it would be to call her to the telephone just before she was to take the stage of the Atlantic and pop a bullet into my head while she listened to the other end!” gave me chills.

The progress that Raif has made out the story with his empathy towards women is there. However, it is only extended to maria in certain amounts. He compares her to a bird consistently, almost as if she is something to be conquered. I still do not find him as a trustworthy main character. The sentiment maria had towards men at the beginning, comparing them to wolves still stands.

Raif fails to realize one thing after his night with maria, it is not that she does not love him, nor is she incapable of love, she has never known a man to love her fully. He claims to be empathetic towards her and love her with all that is in him, but when it comes down to the times where she truly needs empathy instead of pity refuses to give her such. “The truth was, she cannot find it in her to love me“

she mentioned her desire for being queer due to her distaste in men! Obsessed with her, love this diva. every time compares Raif himself to her it makes me more and more upset. Her constant struggle with the desire of passion yet distain for masculine presence and the patriarchy is such an important part of her personality yet completely ignored.

Maria is impact such a well written, female character, strong in her beliefs, and not afraid to consistently set up boundaries. She is probably the most well written feminist character, especially given the time period in which this book was written. “There is no other creature on this earth that races after such easy success, and no other creature was proud and egotistical at the same time cowardly in his ways“

Raif’s desire to be so blind to maria‘s wishes or happiness is so blatant, he continuously ignores her wishes or her statements as shown on page 110 “ from somewhere deep inside, I can hear a faint voice, warning me: once you have seen someone as she truly is – once you have accepted reality – it doesn’t matter who she is. Intimacy is no longer possible.“

“You might find my work at the Atlantic depressing, but I myself have no big opinion… In fact, sometimes I find it amusing“ is such a tragic example of how life refuses to see maria‘s character as a true person rather than an example of the women he has read about in his childhood. It is such a strong dichotomy from how he viewed her previously. Shown by how he didn’t recognize her a few pages back.

Raif portrays himself in the diary as some sort of tragic, talentless character. I find him to be a rather lackluster main character, as he consistently makes himself out to be some kind of pitiful creature. Maria on the other hand is a sympathetic character, I see a lot of myself in her as she is portrayed as some version of a “manic, pixie, dream girl”