What do you think?
Pretty Maids All in a Row
Ponce de Leon found the body. It happend this he had excused himself, politely, form Miss Smith's eng Lit class to go to the lavatory and masurbate. Or, more precisely, find a suitable and relativey private receptacle for the torrent of stuff that screamed to leap out of him. For Miss Smith drove him wild.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 1, 2011
Possibly not a fair rating. I read this back in the early 70's & haven't seen a copy since. I stumbled on an article about Gene Rodenberry's venture into porn between Star Treks & immediately recognized the book, although I never saw the movie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_m...
If I still remember the story fairly clearly after almost 40 years, it had to have something. Quite possibly its only claim to fame was it was one of the first novels I ever read with some fairly explicit & kinky sex in it. That tends to make an impression on a 13 year old, especially back then, when Penthouse or Playboy was the raciest thing you could hope to find. Hell, National Geographic was fun to look at.
I'd love to find a copy & re-read it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_m...
If I still remember the story fairly clearly after almost 40 years, it had to have something. Quite possibly its only claim to fame was it was one of the first novels I ever read with some fairly explicit & kinky sex in it. That tends to make an impression on a 13 year old, especially back then, when Penthouse or Playboy was the raciest thing you could hope to find. Hell, National Geographic was fun to look at.
I'd love to find a copy & re-read it.
May 19, 2021
TRIGGER WARNING and POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT
This book satirizes a slew of topics including American high school culture, American football, erotic literature, race relations and the police, among others. This is the only time I’ve read a satire of a high school coach preying on teenage girls sexually. What’s sad is something similar happened at the high school I attended, except that was real-life and not a novel. This novel’s truth comes from such situations.
The novel contains this line regarding football practice: “Scrimmage, where men were made out of boys.” Someone probably believes that to be true.
One of Tiger’s religious students even dreams about him as Jesus Christ having sex with her. It’s that type of book.
Most, if not all, the sex in the book would be statutory rape. Tiger McDrew even has sex with a fifteen year old.
Given that this is satire, the “mystery” is no mystery at all. You can guess the killer simply by reading the opening blurb.
The book draws interesting parallels between the methodical sex sessions of Tiger with his students and that of student Ponce de Leon Harper, who is smitten with his English teacher. Sure, Tiger “likes” them but is not in love with them.
Ponce, on the other hand, is madly in love with his English teacher Miss Smith. It’s interesting because she’s doing the same to him that Tiger does with his students, but we see Ponce’s perspective and can imagine that Tiger’s victims are all madly in love with him the same as Ponce loves Miss Smith.
Another thing that stood out was the police’s overwhelming ineptitude and their racist focus on the wrong suspect. My how times haven’t changed.
This is a good, not great, book (just my opinion) and definitely not for all tastes. It is, however, an interesting read and a bit of a time capsule even if the themes are relevant today.
This book satirizes a slew of topics including American high school culture, American football, erotic literature, race relations and the police, among others. This is the only time I’ve read a satire of a high school coach preying on teenage girls sexually. What’s sad is something similar happened at the high school I attended, except that was real-life and not a novel. This novel’s truth comes from such situations.
The novel contains this line regarding football practice: “Scrimmage, where men were made out of boys.” Someone probably believes that to be true.
One of Tiger’s religious students even dreams about him as Jesus Christ having sex with her. It’s that type of book.
Most, if not all, the sex in the book would be statutory rape. Tiger McDrew even has sex with a fifteen year old.
Given that this is satire, the “mystery” is no mystery at all. You can guess the killer simply by reading the opening blurb.
The book draws interesting parallels between the methodical sex sessions of Tiger with his students and that of student Ponce de Leon Harper, who is smitten with his English teacher. Sure, Tiger “likes” them but is not in love with them.
Ponce, on the other hand, is madly in love with his English teacher Miss Smith. It’s interesting because she’s doing the same to him that Tiger does with his students, but we see Ponce’s perspective and can imagine that Tiger’s victims are all madly in love with him the same as Ponce loves Miss Smith.
Another thing that stood out was the police’s overwhelming ineptitude and their racist focus on the wrong suspect. My how times haven’t changed.
This is a good, not great, book (just my opinion) and definitely not for all tastes. It is, however, an interesting read and a bit of a time capsule even if the themes are relevant today.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2023
Wow. This book was intense. First of all, it was very sexual, had adults taking advantage of teenagers, had racial slurs, deceit, and murder. It is very "of it's time" in terms of the writing and dialogue. I could definitely feel that it was written in the late sixties while I was reading it. That being said, I couldn't stop reading it. I just had to know what was going to happen next. The last quarter of the novel went very fast for me and elicited some gasps that's for sure. This novel is not for the faint of heart and will probably stick with me for quite a while.
November 13, 2023
There is a decent murder mystery, but it's buried under too much sex; thoughts about sex, random musings.
October 10, 2008
This book was turned into a movie (same name) with a screenplay written by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and starring Rock Hudson, Telly Savalas, Angie Dickinson, and a few others (including--for you trivia buffs--a couple of Star Trek regulars in supporting roles). The story involves the sexual exploits of the football coach/guidance counselor "Tiger" McDrew--featuring several of his young female students. When a student turns up dead, the case is investigated by a state police detective.
I never saw the movie, but the novel is well written, and the sex scenes are very vividly detailed. Well worth reading for that reason alone, but also for the murder mystery through which the sex scenes are woven.
I never saw the movie, but the novel is well written, and the sex scenes are very vividly detailed. Well worth reading for that reason alone, but also for the murder mystery through which the sex scenes are woven.
Want to Read
May 11, 2008This book was made into an excellent, but largely ignored, movie with Rock Hudson and Angie Dickinson. I so much enjoyed "Glover" by the same author that I have high hopes for the novel.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews