Ex-Wife

Wouldn’t you agree that the most interesting characters in The Great Gatsby are Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker and Myrtle Wilson?* The women of Fitzgerald’s novella are mysterious and glamorous. We are not privy to their desires and the book suffers for that reason. But, all is not lost as we’ve got Ursula Parrot debut novel, Ex-Wife, to give voice to the women of the Jazz Age.

Anonymously published in 1929, the novel fictionalized Parrott’s experiences as a divorcée and centers the lives of women who are whip-smart, enterprising, and stylishly attired. In the first year of publication the book sold 100,000 copies yet the novel, and the author, were forgotten by the culture.**

Formally, the novel is playful and inventive with the inclusion of sheet music, letters, an evocative flashback scene (ch XIII), and more. All of this, from the plot to the narrative techniques, is rendered with language that is engaging and dynamic. Clean sentences with a bite.

It would be easy to think that this a frothy book of excess. Patricia, the protagonist, and her peers are hedonists: drinking, dancing, and always spending their hard earned coin.

But, Ursula and her protagonist are both concerned with the realities of their modern lives. The consequences of the ‘new freedom’ turns the ex-wife into a ‘victim’ (p. 69). Astutely aware of the change in culture, Patricia asks herself, her friends, and the reader: if marriage is impermanent, easily dissoluble, what safeguards are there for women?

Patricia’s friend Lucia argues there are no safeguards for women:

This conversation is still pertinent to the contemporary woman and I don’t want to give away all of the musings from the novel’s various ex-wives. Instead, I'll let you know that intermixed with the glittering accessories of the Jazz Age—cocktails, parties, slick frocks paired with matching gloves—are the harrowing affronts women encounter: domestic abuse, rape, and illegal abortions. And though Parrott’s protagonist experiences moments of sadness and anguish she is neither nihilistic nor ironic. She perseveres.***

Read Ex-Wife if you're a fan of: A classic gin fizz, jazz age nostalgia, New York’s literary scene, shopping, aimlessly driving around NYC, and Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados.

Recent Reads:

The below are some articles I’ve read in the last week which may or may not pique your interest. If you have an idea for a better label instead of recent reads, lmk.

Discovered the painter Somaya Critchlow’s work on IG (pictured above) and then found this article where she describes how she draws inspiration from the women featured in the docu-soap Love and Hip Hop. Another artist whose work I am drawn to right now is Issy Wood.

As we know, I’ve been reading a lot about marriage and this piece by The Cut explores the return of the marriage plot. Fyi, this has nothing to do with marriage in literature. Instead, it’s an exploration of the heightened call for marriage in America. You know what dovetails nicely with that serious article? This cute little Vogue weddings article about a bride whose dress was inspired by the gown Audrey Hepburn wore in Sabrina.

On the heels of my recent complaint about TikTok, this New Yorker article breaks down why the Internet is boring.

This article about the end of literary fiction has already made the rounds. Tldr: The category of litfic was a marketing tool and in our current literary landscape, the category means nothing. Whereas this Nylon article, talks about literary it-girls and launch parties.

Here is a review by Ann Hulbert from 1996 about Joan Didion’s novel The Last Thing He Wanted where the review’s subtitle is her “latest novel actually works.” Hulbert concedes that “The Didion protagonist is a woman adrift in history, her own and America’s.” And, I’m not going to lie, I’m kind of down for that. Midway through the piece, we also get this zinger: “Joan Didion’s fiction is formulaic–even contrived.”

Molly Young of The New York Times wrote about Vladimir Nabakov, a sort of guide on his oeuvre. It’s a fun read where Young’s playful, refreshing language pairs well with Nabakov’s style. You can look forward to this term Young created: “Vladsplains.”

*Per usual, not monetized
**The erasure of Ex-Wife, and prevalence of The Great Gatsby, can be explained by that fact that during World War II, the US military gave over 150,000 copies to American soldiers overseas. In addition, Fitzgerald had many stewards of his legacy unlike Parrott who died of anonymity in a NYC charity ward at 58. It is interesting to note that critics of the time were mixed on both books.
*** If I had a complaint, it would be this: How many times did we need to hear that Patricia is fit? After the first description of her dainty shoulders, her jet-black hair, and the contrasting white skin, I'd gotten the point.