1993 novel by Rita Mae Brown
Venus Envy is a 1993 novel by Rita Mae Brown.
Plot Synopsis.
Mary Frazier Armstrong, known to all as "Frazier", is a successful and beautiful 35-year-old art gallery owner. When she is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and is told she has only hours left to live, she decides it is time to let everyone know what she really thinks. She writes a series of brutally honest letters to friends and family, and because she'll be dead by the time she reads them, she also tells her deepest secret: She's a lesbian.
When the letters arrive, chaos and pandemonium ensue in her hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, peaking with the news that Frazier is not dying after all. As the society around her seeks to excoriate her for her sexual identity and those close to her are afraid to be painted with the same incriminating brush, only her father, brother, eccentric aunt, assistant and closest friend Billy stick by her. When the pressure grows too great, Frazier escapes, with the help of an accidental electric shock, to a fantasy visit into a 17th-century painting of Mount Olympus, only to wake up in the arms of the stunning and bisexual goddess Venus, and gets to hang out with the ancient, wiser goddesses and gods.
Reception.
The novel received mixed reviews from critics.
"Publishers Weekly" opined that "The risible title is arguably the best thing about Brown's latest comic novel", noting that fans of Brown might well enjoy "Venus Envy," but that first-time readers are bound to be disappointed. The "Kirkus" review found an excess of platitudes in the text, but also that Brown's "sexual frankness and flippant humor are as refreshing as always." "Chicago Tribune"'s Patrick T. Reardon found the novel "uneven", and "a real mess of a book, albeit a usually amiable and often amusing one," noting that "Venus Envy" is more a polemic than a novel: "a series of set pieces in which characters—read Brown—speechify about deep and important things." Yet for all his criticisms, he concludes that the book is enjoyable and fun.
Carla Tomaso, in the "Los Angeles Times", calls "Venus Envy" an "often witty and tender novel", in which Brown does what she does best: "create irreverent individualists, usually lesbians, who thumb their noses, always attractive, at society and then have a great time watching everybody squirm. We readers enjoy it as well, especially when Brown doesn’t take herself too seriously in the attempt to be profound." The fault she finds is that Brown pulls "too many strings", and that some of the dialogue gets "didactic" and gives her "permission" to "relax and stop worrying that we won’t get the message. We will."
References.
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