Rhine Maidens

by Carolyn See

Relates the intimate story of the frustrations and triumphs of Grace and Garnet, two women--mother and daughter--who are both united and divided by a failure in love

Genres: Fiction, Classics

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Carolyn See was the author of ten books, including the memoir, Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America, an advice book on writing, Making a Literary Life, and the novels There Will Never Be Another You and The Handyman.

She was the Friday-morning reviewer for The Washington Post, and she has been on the boards of the National Book Critics Circle and PENWest International. She won both the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Getty Center fellowship. She lived in Pacific Palisades, California.

See also wrote books under the pen name Monica Highland, a name she shared with two others, her daughter Lisa See and her longtime companion, John Espey, who died in 2000.

See was known for writing novels set in Los Angeles and co-edited books that revolve around the city, including a book of short stories, LA Shorts, and the pictorial books Santa Monica Bay: Paradise by the Sea: A Pictorial History of Santa Monica, Venice, Marina Del Rey, Ocean Park, Pacific Palisades, Topanga & Malibu, and The California Pop-Up Book, which celebrates the city's unique architecture.

Reviews

[Xoxojillzian · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 - “I never said I was easy to get along with. I never said I was easy to get along with. I never, never said I was easy to get along with.”

Somewhere btwn a melancholy and abusive mother and daughter relationship and the first wives club. Love both but put together… strange. Carolyn See’s writing and the late 70s/early 80s LA setting were a vibe

To be fair I will be thinking of this one for weeks lol

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never mind the overrated Joan Didion and Eve Babitz, this book is the quintessential mid 1970s female California book. It's the story of a mother and daughter who neither get along nor like each other - both are dealing with breakups from husbands and facing life as single women. The story is told from the perspective of each and is quite hilarious in parts. Brilliant comic writing..

[Ferris Mx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure where I got the idea to read this book. It was from another book - perhaps The Golden Notebook? Anyway, it didn't speak to me. Dated and I couldn't connect.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

You have two women, Grace, a foul-mouthed aging mother with a negative attitude and her daughter Garnet, who left home early, married a Hollywood producer, has two kids and perfect home. This is a book about attitudes much more than plot. I can't mention anything that happens without spoiling what little plot there is, but I can talk about the organization of this book. Grace and Garnet alternate, Grace telling her story to someone named Pearl. Garnet tells her side in supposed journal entries for a college class, but no teacher would ever accept what she writes. Grace's coarse dialogue grates after a while, we become annoyed wondering who Pearl is, and everything just seems to go on too long. We never find out who the Rhine Maidens are, although we might be able to hazard a guess based on the last chapter. Rhine Maidens does make one think about how our perceptions color our feelings about events in our lives, but it was a tough read.

[Hanje Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this one a 3.5. I am not in love with this book, but it was good enough to keep me reading.

As my favorite 13 year old would say, "this book is totally character driven."

Mother Grace and daughter Garnet tell the story from their own points of view. Grace is talking to an unseen friend, Pearl. Garnet is writing in a journal for a college writing class she is taking.

These two voices tell the same and very different stories about their lives.

Very California, as are all the books I have read by Carolyn See, which is currently a "thing" for me.

Some of Carolyn See's prose is heartbreakingly beautiful in its simplicity: "Our life was awful enough for my father to leave it when I was eleven and good enough for my mother to keep on crying about it for the rest of her life." (from Garnet's journal).

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book about a mother and her middle-aged daughter. It's a spot-on character study of the mother, in particular, but interesting as regards the daughter, too, and is also a kind of character study of late 70s Los Angeles, as well.

It's funny and poignant and enraging-- and really just about perfect. If I'd been able to give it 4.5 stars, I would've.