Spending : A Utopian Divertimento

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Summary: Inside the Artist's Process
Review: Mary Gordon's book Spending was a pleasant surprise for me since I have never read a book that realistically maps the inner space of the painter's process. I am a 50ish painter who fits the profile of Monica except I left NYC in 1973. I been painting since I was 12, nearly 41 years but in those years women have won the right to pursue art beyond teaching and child rearing. My self indulgent creative process--the dance of food, sex, and painting--has never been so clearly represented in words. My circumstances are certainly different (this is a piece of fiction) but the struggle of inclusions and disinclusions, the mecurial insight into the subject that erupts at the most unexpected moment--total dispair, and the detachment from people as subjects of art was too real. The material distractions and yo-yo self esteem issues were based on surviving an era and culture that embedded residual guilt like a Y2K glitch waiting to rear it's ugly head at the most inopportune time. Certainly, I wondered how a writer could present a visual process with such clarity without painting herself.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: "Spending" is a keeper - I rarely re-read books, but this one is terrific. I love the way Monica deals with her "muse" - if only this was real life! This book is truly a fairy tale for adult women.

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Summary: The Ultimate Beach Novel
Review: I bought Spending immediately after hearing Mary Gordon discussing it on NPR, and stayed up all night reading, delighting in each delicious scenario. I loved Monica and her determined self-interest, identified with her worries, and hoped I could grow up to be just like her ... or, at least, in her place. This book doesn't pretend to be high art, as Gordon's subtitle, "A Utopian Divertimiento," attests; it is a smart, funny fantasy. I've recommended it to my smartest, most sophisticated friends, and hope they love it as much as I do!

Rating:
Summary: Never judge a book by its cover
Review: I was intrigued enough by the inside cover and recent reviews to buy her book, but found it painful to read; the writing style is crudely simple and terribly contrived (not in the least bit witty). The story line follows the stereotypic recipe of artist as starving, self-indulgent martyr. As a writer/artist herself, Mary Gordon should know better. The issues the main character faces are so old and crusty one can practically smell the mold between pages. "middle-aged old-school feminist struggles to retain relevant contemporary hipster status"one word: yuck. (to put it simply)

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Summary: Wonderful, if irreligious, portrait of a painter's money
Review: I can't recommend this book to my mother (72 years old) but I can to all my friends (25-50). There is a lot of sex in it, but it's not titillating, just informative. The power struggle between money and love is fascinating and her subtitle, a utopian divertimento, is clever--who wouldn't really like a Sugar Daddy? Lovely views of life on Cape Cod and Manhattan--a thoroughly good time.

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Summary: Gordon's New Work Well Worth The Time And Money Spent
Review: A long time fan of Mary Gordon, I went to a local bookstore reading and left hungering for more. Gordon pulls you in with vivid descriptions, a candid, sometimes raw narrative, and an in-depth look into a relationship that couples of all ages can relate to. Her writing remains as crisp and tasty as before, but is a bit more sexually provocative in this refreshing take of woman as artist, man as muse.

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Summary: embaressing junk from Mary Gordon
Review: I have read all of Mary Gordon's novels, and believe that she has been on a downward trajectory since her wonderful "Final Payments". Gordon's complaints about the Catholic Church are worse than cliched: they are passe. The Church she criticizes -- directly or indirectly -- hasn't existed in decades. Gordon is like a person of age 25 who is stuck in adolescenct rebellion and doesn't realize that nobody cares anymore if she breaks the rules. "Spending" reads like a satire of Gordon herself, rather than a comedy about love and money. It is time for Mary Gordon to stop trying to prove through her fiction that she is "over" the hangups about sex that the maligned nuns of her childhood instilled in her; if anything, the opposite seems true: Mary Gordon is trapped by her own resentments regarding Catholicism and it is effecting the quality of writing. She should grow up and stop trying to prove how sophisticated she is regarding sex. If she were really over the past, she'd let it go, especially since she can't even write well about it anymore.

Rating:
Summary: Very witty and fun book with provocative themes
Review: I heard a radio interview of the author discussing her book "The Shadow Man" (purchased but haven't read yet) where the idea for "Spending" was also mentioned and couldn't stop wondering how the novel would unfold with a 50 yr old woman painter and her male muse. The book is surprisingly funny and uplifting! I laughed so much especially the section on the Charlie Rose interview that my husband decided he would read the book too. Unfortunately, he will need to wait because I already passed it on to one of my girlfriends. How refreshing to read a novel where the main woman character is post menopause yet sexy, intelligent, talented and is not abused nor abusive.

Rating:
Summary: Enthralling...entrancing...exciting
Review: Curled up in a chair at the local book superstore, I read (devoured?) SPENDING completely at the retailer's expense....but I could not bear to leave the store without having the book in my possession. I bought the book (and a copy for my best friend). My often re-read favorites are a security blanket on my bookshelves at home, and Mary Gordon's latest is a most satisfactory addition. I admired Gordon's wit and sarcasm, laughed out loud with her humor, and exalted in her feminine intelligence. SPENDING is enveloping and very very sexy.

Rating:
Summary: A non Mary Gordon effort
Review: A self indulgent, cliche of a book. An irritating protagonist. Superficial outlook on life, and human relationships. Did Mary's traumatic father discovery put her into a temporary trance? Show-offy in the art area. Vulgar in the sex area. Parent-child interactions so tiresome. "B" , the pivotal male figure, a commodities trader. PLEASE!!!

Will the Mary Gordon I have loved please come home?