Sarah Mac’s Reviews > The Women of Eden > Status Update

‘As always, all his vague apprehensions gradually narrowed into one, the constant nightmare, the secret knowledge of what he was. It wasn’t shame he felt. How could such a healing love be shameful or wrong? It was simply his awareness of the abyss between his self-concept & that of the world.’ ....Sweet, gentle Richard is chainsaw fodder for victorian hypocrisy. ;__;

“It would be my opinion, inspector, that either she knew her assailant or he knew her. Revenge is evident to be sure, but muted revenge, as though he merely wanted to frighten her & cause her temporary discomfort, rather than destroy her, don’t you agree?” ....This mansplaining douchebag needs a punch in the nuts, but he’s not entirely wrong. Rape by proxy—a new low for the Eden family tree.

It’s good book, but it feels like Harris is giving her own MC the Boromir treatment. John certainly has some issues in book 3 (rightly so), but he wasn’t cruel & psychotic. The way he acts in this...it’s totally out there, with no real flow or buildup from his portrayal in Book 3. o_O It’s almost like Harris is making him a caricature of himself. Or maybe he’s got a brain tumor. Either way, it’s weird.

‘He must inform the others of this miraculous news, that Lila was carrying new life, a sister, he hoped, for Stephen & Frederick, the 3rd accomplishment in John’s private empire, the creation of a large & boisterous family, all bearing the name of Eden. Suddenly he smiled. A babe, a fitting end to this desolate fortnight, as tho nature were informing him that he needed no one but himself.’ ...God complex, much?

‘Now that her song was over & had gone well, now that the silly painting had been unveiled, the ball just under way, it seemed incredible to her that a few hours ago she had been perched on a window ledge, contemplating the end of her life. She must remember this lesson in the future, that a dark vista in one direction does not necessarily mean that the entire world has been plunged into darkness.’

Aaah, now I see it. Harriet is the unattainable sexual object not included in the ‘Women of Eden’ painting, yet it does feature all four of the (potentially) obtainable replacements for her—childlike wife, beautiful half-sister, desirable mistress, pseudo-mother/former whore—whether John chooses to act on their sexualization or not. Well-played symbolism, Harris.

“I seem to have an unfortunate propensity of getting in everyone’s way. What precisely did God intend for young women to do? Why can’t I have a cause & goals as you do, & friends as Richard does, as John himself? Why must I sit docilely & wait for someone’s permission to live my life?” ....The age-old refrain of Victorian heroines everywhere.

‘Delane paused. Burke watched him, still not certain why Eden had been singled out as an object of Delane’s journalistic zeal. Men made fortunes daily in America & were not punished for having done so. Was it some dictate of the English class system which frowned on bastards overstepping their bounds?’ ....Pretty much. :D

‘Burke looked down on the young woman & in the process caught a glimpse of one lovely breast. But it was not the breast that held his attention. Rather it was the look of excitement on her face, as though she were pleased with herself for having brought the young man to such a fit of passion.’ ....It seems Mary is continuing the fine Eden family tradition of sexually-suppressed fruitloop.