Book review – Pages for You – Sylvia Brownrigg

Posted on | September 11, 2009 | No Comments |

To make a good contrast with the previous book, I ordered another more adult one (but of course not straying too far into the hot ‘n’ heavy world of erotica – I think there’s only so many short storylines you can write where the majority of the content is lesbian lovin’), which – after careful reading of Amazon reviews (obviously proven scientifically to be far more accurate than newspaper book reviews), I chose as Sylvia Brownrigg’s Pages for You.

Overview

Pages for You is a book written by a whole different kind of author. Sylvia Brownrigg is not a lesbian book author (both not a regular author of lesbian storylines like Sarah Waters or a lesbian herself (I believe)) – She has written one more book where one of her main characters is a lesbian (The Metaphysical Touch – 1999), but her style of approach to the subject is entirely different to Nancy Garden. Instead of tackling the subject head on as a controversy and highlighting the difficulties in reality for gay couples, the lesbian characters in Brownrigg’s novels acknowledge their sexuality merely as another part of their personalities. In other words, instead of an “Ooh, that might be a difficult situation for a gay couple” feel, this is replaced by an almost “Oh, and by the way, she likes girls. Not that it matters” backhanded approach which is, in my opinion, rather refreshing.

Her style of writing is one of self-reflection and philosophy mixed with poetry. In real terms, this means that a scene is interspersed with thoughts and inward reflection written in (often over)flowery prose. Shake over a good helping of metaphors and similes (some of which are guaranteed to make you go “You compared what to what now?” and you’re pretty much there.

Plot and Characters

The book itself is written in short passages of prose (hence the title). Each “chapter” is around two pages long and although some run into each other, they are mostly separate scenes within the story. This lends the book a rather poetic feel and also breaks up the story and makes it a lot easier to read.

The plot tells the story of two women – Flannery (yes, that’s her first name) and Anne – the former a freshman in an unnamed Eastern American university and the latter her graduate TA in Critical thinking. They meet in chapter 2 in a campus diner in a rather overworded scene involving a cup of coffee and a jelly omelette and then again in university supervisions where Flannery eventually inds the nerve to ask her out. The book then follows their hot-blooded affair until its not entirely unexpected (you get the end in the prologue) conclusion where the two go their separate ways.

Flannery is the young, naive and introspective one – always analysing and re-analysing her own actions and the actions of others in order to try and gain some sort of insight into other people’s actions. She’s a tall and shy West coast girl who’s used to rain and quiet town life. I couldn’t help but to empathise with her a little, as even through Brownrigg’s flowery metaphors, her inner monologues are ones that I think everyone of that age has been through and they strike home with unnerving accuracy.

Anne is the jaded older woman who breezes through life with men (and women) drooling at her feet. She may or may not have had female lovers before Flannery but certainly doesn’t think of herself as a lesbian. In contrast to the open and naive Flannery, Anne projects a rather colder and closed personality that is very loath to talk about herself and the past as she puts a lot more emphasis on the present and the future. Her feelings for Flannery are never really made clear until the very end since she often blurs the line between sincerity and sarcasm. Her character very much reflects the older crush that everyone has had in their adolescent years that is never realised.

Conclusion

Love and I have a disagreement over this book. She thinks that it is flowery and overwritten with characters that are annoying and difficult to empathise with. I think that if you ignore the times where the flowery writing misses the mark, the characters – especially Flannery really shine through. Although she is annoying, immature and over-analysing, she makes you painfully aware of the state that all of us (probably) have been through in our adolescent years. To me, the story paints a fairly realistic picture of a (best case) scenario which might have played out had we realised that adolescent crush in those tender years and for that, I think the story will stay with me for years to come.

Add to: