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The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
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By Lynn · 3 posts · 36 views
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The Schedule July-December 2011
By Sherry , Doyenne · 15 posts · 286 views
By Sherry , Doyenne · 15 posts · 286 views
last updated May 30, 2011 06:01AM
What I'm Reading - August
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last updated Sep 01, 2011 02:23PM
What I'm Reading - February 2012
By Melissa · 319 posts · 125 views
last updated Mar 01, 2012 05:34AM
What Members Thought
James M. Cain's writing style in "Mildred Pierce" isn't terribly interesting, especially when compared with that of fellow Los Angeles crime novelist Raymond Chandler, and most of the characters are relatively one-dimensional, but the plot and the depiction of pre-war Los Angeles -- specifically the suburbs of Pasadena, Glendale and Laguna Beach -- make up for many of the book's weaknesses. And has there ever been a villain as much fun to hate as Veda Pierce?
While hating Veda is fun, the reader ...more
While hating Veda is fun, the reader ...more
I had a conversation with a detective yesterday about gauging how honest a person is being by how detrimental their story is to their own character. And Mildred Pierce is honest like that. Not in a crime sense (this family drama is a bit of a departure from Cain's other well-known noir gems - The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity), but how Cain creates completely realized and generously flawed characters. There is honesty every inch of Mildred - from her thickening waistline to her
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From IMDB:
Divorced single mom Mildred Pierce decides to open a restaurant business, which tears at the already-strained relationship with her ambitious elder daughter, Veda.
Being a big fan of the roman noir written by Cain, I couldn't resist to watch this TV series with Kate Winslet as Mildred. ...more
Divorced single mom Mildred Pierce decides to open a restaurant business, which tears at the already-strained relationship with her ambitious elder daughter, Veda.
Being a big fan of the roman noir written by Cain, I couldn't resist to watch this TV series with Kate Winslet as Mildred. ...more
how can a writer with such a clumsy style become famous and sell many books ? the style is so distracting that i could barely read it. when i read great writers like thomas wolfe and william faulkner,steinbeck,hemingway, i can barely read people like cain but he s on my 100 best list so i have to read him. sometimes i read a book to see how poorly some writers write. the characters were fake with fake emotions. i didn t even root for mildred.
Noir? In the sense of gritty realism, but not in the sense of a crime story. there are no major crimes committed by any of the characters. Kind of surprising from the writer who brought us "Postman" And "Double Indemnity." Cain manages to keep it interesting all the way through and the strength of the book is the realistic portrait he paints of the characters. I find Mildred to be a sympathetic character (many don't) and also Bert, her first husband.
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No murder, not even a crime; yet this mystery was filled with suspense and tension throughout. So glad I read this because it wasn't what I expected. I had no problem getting Joan Crawford out of my head because the real Mildred Pierce is much younger and complex than Crawford's onscreen character -- and the story is rawer. Still, this played out in my head in black and white. Plot: Mildred starts a chicken-and-waffle (!) restaurant that grows into a successful chain, but throughout the many sta
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Yes, I am currently watching the new version of this story on HBO and had read that the book's ending was completely different from the original film version's. I became intrigued and found the book and couldn't stop reading it. What with Cain's way with a story and its turns and twists, it is a clever book. What a drip Mildred is in book form! I have two daughters myself and couldn't ever be like Mildred is with her daughter, Veda. Great read. And what a horrible, spoiled bitch Veda is! Why doe
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A disappointment ... I was expecting more of a "noir" as in Cain's other stories, but Mildred Pierce, the book, is more of a rather pedestrian novel.
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Despite being written by a man, Cain speaks to that deep sense of vulnerability many women have in their fear that one false move, and one false recipient of abiding affection, can be their downfall. Mildred is a finely balanced blend of strength and weakness who's capable of facing down hardship but blinkered against the worst the world can throw at her. A tough story to read for the intensely everywoman status of its doomed heroine.
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Absorbing character study of a woman who pulls herself out of poverty by divorcing her philandering husband, getting a job as a waitress, and then starting her own business. Her obsessive love of her manipulative daughter and her really terrible taste in men are her downfall. The plot and dialogue verge on the melodramatic, but the characters are compelling.
This old chestnut is worth reading if only for the picture of complete evil shown in the daughter. Not like the Crawford movie classic; plenty of gritty atmosphere. A good place to begin a study or exploration of noir fiction.
A good old-fashioned thriller of sorts, although you see the ending coming a mile away, it is so damn good, it doesn't matter.
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Well done, but grim.
Also, pretty ironic that Mildred is 37 at the end, and considers herself a failure. Oh, to be 37 again.
Also, pretty ironic that Mildred is 37 at the end, and considers herself a failure. Oh, to be 37 again.
Jan 25, 2008
Jennie
marked it as to-read
May 05, 2008
Suzanne
marked it as to-read
Jul 25, 2011
Pang
marked it as to-read
Jul 25, 2011
nikki crupi
marked it as to-read
Nov 12, 2023
Rita
marked it as to-read
