Harriet is leaving her boyfriend Claude, “the French rat.” That at least is how Harriet sees things, even if it’s Claude who has ...
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May 29, 2011
Rick
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I’d not heard of this book, first published in 1973, or writer but found it browsing in a bookstore’s section reserved for New York Book Review books and was seduced by the blurbs and publisher. For example, from Leonard Michaels, “I haven’t read a more wittily offensive serious novel…” Truth be told it doesn’t disappoint. Harriet, the anti-hero of this acerbic comedy of mis-manners is a train wreck of a character and our very unreliable narrator. But her unreliability as a narrator takes a back
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Feb 21, 2011
Valerie
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Initially, I thought the writing style was interesting and I wanted to see where the story would go. However, I ended up not wanting to finish it because it was really not very good.
The narrator is clearly a troubled individual, self-centered and yet dependent on others, but it wasn't funny or interesting. A lot of the things she said or thought or did were offensive or twisted in some way. I couldn't really find much redeeming about her, especially with all the uses of the word " More...
The narrator is clearly a troubled individual, self-centered and yet dependent on others, but it wasn't funny or interesting. A lot of the things she said or thought or did were offensive or twisted in some way. I couldn't really find much redeeming about her, especially with all the uses of the word " More...
Apr 23, 2011
Lola425
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I really liked this book. The protagonist is hilarious and the least self-aware character I've ever read. She is the kind of person who would be great as a friend in very small doses and only as long as you were willing to tiptoe around her idiosyncracies. You weren't won over by her, you weren't really rooting for her, you just wanted to see what was going to happen to her next. The Rhoda/Regina scenario that started the whole affair with Claude was SO bizarre that you had to wonder if the r
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Jan 30, 2012
Anne
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This is sharp, terrifying, depraved, and laced with incredible moments of clarity. Other readers have called it funny, and while I don't think I'd go so far as to agree, I can see the shades of it. This chick Harriet is losing her mind and it's twisted and sad--what makes it interesting is the feeling you get that she's sometimes fighting it, sometimes inviting it.
In the intro Emily Prager says it well: "if every woman's fears and frailties can be hysterically articulated in one b More...
In the intro Emily Prager says it well: "if every woman's fears and frailties can be hysterically articulated in one b More...
Nov 13, 2010
Teresa
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In After Claude, the main character and first-person narrator, Harriet, recounts the final days of her relationship with the titular Claude and the aftermath of their breakup. This book was first published in 1973 and has just been reprinted by New York Review Books.
My first impression of Harriet was that she is hilarious. Offensive, very offensive, but hilarious. Before long, though, I realized that her snarkiness is really just a piece of Harriet’s extreme self-centeredness and meann More...
My first impression of Harriet was that she is hilarious. Offensive, very offensive, but hilarious. Before long, though, I realized that her snarkiness is really just a piece of Harriet’s extreme self-centeredness and meann More...
Jan 12, 2012
Sarah
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Maybe it's because I wasn't alive in the early 70's. Maybe it's because I'm a yuppie and not a hippy. Maybe it's because I'm a modern feminist. Maybe it's because I like working and don't understand idle people. But this book was awful.
A lazy, self-grandizing, sociopath lives with a French documentary maker after her last roommate was committed (with the help of the heroine of course). French documentary maker gets sick of her lack of joie de vivre and says he's throwing her out. She More...
A lazy, self-grandizing, sociopath lives with a French documentary maker after her last roommate was committed (with the help of the heroine of course). French documentary maker gets sick of her lack of joie de vivre and says he's throwing her out. She More...
Feb 07, 2011
Laura
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This novel is delightfully profane, a jujube set in advance of political correctness yet staunchly in the middle of the cultural wars that spawned it. Yes, the language is off-color, and certain episodes would shock a libertine, but it's all worth the blush. A portrait of a desperate mind, After Claude follows recently repatriated Harriet (she got kicked out of France) as she freeloads first off her former best friend Rhoda-Regina and then her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend Claude, "the French rat
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Nov 01, 2010
Joy
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After Claude is an odd little portrait of a woman going off the rails. At times funny, at times very sad, it's a fascinating character study and an interesting early attempt at creating a female anti-hero. Iris Owens writes like a dream - too bad she wasn't more prolific (I'm not likely to seek out any of the pornographic stuff she wrote under her pseudonym of Harriet Daimler). I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would when I started it. After the first few pages of Harriet's "m
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Jan 25, 2012
Julie
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Infuriating, hilarious account of Harriet who is obviously mentally ill. Claude finds her on a stoop in Greenwich Village and takes her in. After six months, he has had enough and tries to get rid of her, but she will have none of it. This was written in 1973 and republished in 2010 by NYRB. The cultural references from 1973 are terrific. Harriet is completely annoying, which as an idea starts well and is quite entertaining, but ends up being tiring by the end of the book.
This book is More...
This book is More...
Mar 22, 2011
Christina
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This was an enjoyable read, you have to love Harriet, at least if your a masochistic feminist like myself. At first she seems like a smart strong woman, but to my disappointment she isn't one. Anxious to read another by Owens. Some lines I liked are; "Claude pretended not to hear me, an act of male intelligence that never fails to impress me", there's nothing that warms a girl's heart like a smile on the face of a sadist", and "I have.. learned never to be amazed at what men
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Oct 19, 2011
Torea
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Seriously, deliciously bitchy fun. You will be horrified by Harriet, but if you're anything like me, you'll also be a bit in awe of a person playing it entirely straight, speaking her mind and being terrible, regardless of the consequences. Called to mind the mother in Alina Bronsky's "Hottest Dishes of the Tatar Cuisine."
Jan 04, 2012
Sian
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this book is crazy, crazy and great. Written in the 70s and set in new york (half of it in the chelsea hotel)harriet has left 'that rat Claude' on page one, but she is still trying to hang on to him about 100 pages in. it's kind of offensive, wicked and awesome. (bit of a warning...some of the language is 'of it's time')
Apr 13, 2011
Pamster
rated it:
So goddamned funny. I love fucked up, delusional narrators. She's sort of like Sarah Silverman's comedy persona? First published in 1973, the author mostly wrote a bunch of porn for Olympia Press, and wrote one other novel besides this one under her name. So much shit in here made me laugh.
Jul 03, 2011
Amanda
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I devoured this book in one day, mostly because it was an easy, quick, intriguing read. Harriet, the protagonist is witty, bitchy, insensitive, sharp and at times completely fucked-up. Which I admittedly adore. This book is definitely not for everyone. In fact, I think people who read it will either love it or hate it.
May 06, 2011
Irene
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I recently had houseguests from Europe stay with me for four long nights and three long days. It was hellish for me. I won't go into what gross habits they had, what social graces and good manners they lacked, or ponder any further why people would keep their luggage in a guest bathroom, so I'll just say that having the houseguests invade my home, my sanctuary while at the same time reading this book, I could not muster any admiration for Harriet. Not even a little.
In fact, not on More...
In fact, not on More...
Mar 28, 2011
Linda
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This book seems painfully dated, it takes sarcasm for wit, and unless I am completely misreading it, seems like one of those appallingly misogynistic works that women themselves occasionally turn out. I really don't know why it merited a reprint.
Dec 10, 2011
Christina
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The narrator's outrageous one-liners had me laughing throughout the book, but the last 40 pages or so take a weird, and interesting, turn that made me think of her in a completely different light.
Apr 18, 2011
Liz
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Iris Owens has created an every-woman monster in her lovelorn narrator, Harriet- acerbic, riotous, and sickening. This compelling novel is a candid exploration of what modern femininity should constitute, and what passes instead.
Feb 01, 2011
Leila
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This was a breezy enough piece of satire, but I can't help but wish the whole book had been about the last forty pages.
Jan 21, 2011
Sketchbook
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The Owens wit explodes like a spray of riotous bullets.
But the anti-heroine becomes overbearing.
But the anti-heroine becomes overbearing.
Jan 03, 2011
Amelia
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I loved this. Kenneth Tynan called it "hilariously bitchy". I agree.
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