- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Orion; n.e. edition (21 Nov 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0752853171
- ISBN-13: 978-0752853178
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
Mildred Pierce
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Product Description
Review
'Cain's grasp of human deviousness has rarely been equalled.' (Simon Shaw DAILY MAIL )
'Forget the Kate Winslet television adaptation, this is the real deal, a hothouse of suppressed emotions, jealousy, sexual tension, and rage told in elegant prose.' (CATHOLIC HERALD )
'A supreme timeless classic.' (TELEGRAPH & ARGUS ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
'Forget the Kate Winslet television adaptation, this is the real deal, a hothouse of suppressed emotions, jealousy, sexual tension, and rage told in elegant prose.' (CATHOLIC HERALD )
'A supreme timeless classic.' (TELEGRAPH & ARGUS ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
A classic American novel, published to tie-in with a major new SKY series starring Kate Winslet.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
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First Sentence
In the spring of 1931, on a lawn in Glendale, California, a man was bracing trees. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
In the spring of 1931, on a lawn in Glendale, California, a man was bracing trees. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well worth reading,
By
This review is from: Mildred Pierce (Paperback)
Mildred Pierce is a gripping tale. It is the story of an abandoned wife, her business ventures, her love affairs and her family life against a background of an economic slump. She is a great character Mildred Pierce in that she is not a perfect, brave heroine, but she is a human with failings and one VERY blind spot, her love for the unworthy daughter. The descriptions of cake-making, book-keeping, Californian middle-class homes, music lessons etc etc are so vivid that you see them with your own eyes, you live them. After reading this book, I felt as if I had visted pre-war California and begun to understand its ways, it society and its snobberies. The book has a flaw, though. The author writes with Mildred as his focus in every scene, we are taken into her head and into her heart, BUT Mildred is female and the writer is not. At just a few points one thinks that a woman would not say or do or feel as described. This was my first James M Cain novel. I enjoyed so much I have ordered The Postman Always Rings Twice.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
pies, pies, pies,
By
This review is from: Mildred Pierce (Paperback)
This is a great book on lots of levels. There is fantastic detail about all sorts of topics: pies and how to make and sell them, the restaurant and real estate businesses, class differences (particularly in interior decoration), and the competitive world of professional musicians. The characters and situations are nicely varied and all very believable and you really care what happens. It is quite different to the film, so don't be put off by thinking you know the plot already if you've seen it (though I've heard rumours of a Kate Winslet remake which could be more faithful). This is an excellent option if you like the idea of 'hard-boiled' US fiction of the '30s and '40s but find crime writers like Hammett and Chandler objectionably macho. There's none of that here - we see the story from Mildred's point of view and it stays firmly rooted in a domestic and family context that makes the climactic events all the more plausible. If you like this I would also recommend Cain's 'Serenade', again a non-macho yet still hard-boiled(ish) classic with similar strengths.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Far better than the film,
By
This review is from: Mildred Pierce (Crime Masterworks) (Paperback)
Perhaps not technically in the 'film noir' genre as there is no smoking gun (unlike the joan Crawford film), Cain's writing is however gripping, and has a very modern feel. Cain achieves strong characterisation, principally by the excellent use of dialogue combined with earthy realism. The story revolves around the destructive love of a mother for her spoilt, cold and manipulative daughter, upon whom she projects material ambitions buit fails to inculcate any moral index. Initially a victim, the eponymous hero becomes a self-made all-american success, only to be destroyed by those she loves and who have motivated her efforts to succeed. The plot is startlingly different from the film adaptation, more convincing and bleaker if less dramatic. A suoerb holiday read
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