The Wives of Bath

by Susan Swan

Book Overview

InThe Wives of Bath, Susan Swan penetrates the world of a girls' boarding school and tells a story - at once shocking and wickedly funny - that encompasses rebellion and murder, and stunningly evokes the pain, confusion, and humour of female adolescence and sexual coming-of-age. It is 1963.??Mary Bradford (a.k.a. Mouse) is thirteen when she is shipped off to Bath Ladies College.??Mouse, motherless, a hunchback, enters the school feeling very much...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679419195
• ISBN13: 9780679419198
• Release Date: August 1993
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 237 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Stylish

I came to reading the Wives of Bath having seen and rather enjoyed the Leah Pool film based on it, Lost & Delirious. The two are very different incidentally. This book is about gender, more than anything else in my opinion. Paulie has some sort of objection to, not so much her place in society as a woman, but to what can be simply described as 'girlieness'. Her bizarre obsession with King Kong is contrasted with Mouse's more common infatuation with President Kennedy. All in all, I'd say this novel is surreal, well written and stylish. It reminded me somewhat of the writings of Jeanette Winterson or possibly even the late great Doug Adams - not so much in humor, but in the absent-minded and beautifully composed suspension of reality for the sake of the story. It did resonate with me for a while when i finished it.

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!

"The Wives of Bath" is one of the best books I have read in recent years. The story of is rge type that you can get caught up in and not put the book down. I read this book in one night and thought that it was absoltely amazing!I really liked how, with Polly, you were never really sure about her gender and how the story was seen through Mouse's eyes. All in all i feel that this book is one of the best written pieces of literature with a gay theme ever.