The Passion of New Eve

By: Angela Carter

Narrated by: Piers Hampton

I know nothing. I am a tabula rasa, a blank sheet of paper, an unhatched egg. I have not yet become a woman, although I possess a woman's shape. Not a woman, no: both more and less than a real woman. Now I am a being as mythic and monstrous as Mother herself....

New York has become the City of Dreadful Night where dissolute Leilah performs a dance of chaos for Evelyn. But this young Englishman's fate lies in the arid desert, where a many-breasted fertility goddess will wield her scalpel to transform him into the new Eve.

©1977 Angela Carter (P)2018 Audible, Ltd

Odd yet, eye opening

This novel is one that is shrouded in symbolism, hyperbole, and similes. I am thankful for Audible because it at times is a hard read because it is so shocking. Although as a whole this novel is one I am glad I read for it is profound from start to finish.

Excellent

Another beautiful, strange, profound and hilarious work by the great Angela Carter. I first picked up a book by her when I was probably 12 or 13. I can’t imagine recommending her to someone that age, but I remember being extremely intrigued (as was my sister). It was like a whole secret side of life had began to open up in my brain. I forgot about her in my 20s and 30s, as I was too busy to do much reading, but I picked her up again in my 40s and appreciated her even more. Now in my 50s, I consider her among my top three authors.

I would not recommend Carter to those who do not enjoy poetry or who prefer simple masculine action narratives with minimal adverbs, etc (Hemingway, etc.). This book (and all of her work) will probably irritate you. You have to have a pretty strong vocabulary and enjoy reveling in all the strange little details and subversive entendres. If you have not read Carter before, I recommend her short stories. It’s been argued that her style is best suited to short stories, because it can be overwhelming in large doses (I believe it was Salmon Rushdie who said this). I would have to agree, although if you love Carter as much as I do, you will also love her novels. I get bored easily with long works, but Carter’s language and thought process are so intensely stimulating, that I keep moving along, even if I’m a little confused as to what’s happening in the story. In this sense she reminds me of David Foster Wallace, although their voices are quite different. Both have an ironic quality, but Carter’s voice is more lush and hyper-creative. Wallace is more disjointed and a little funnier. Carter can be pretty funny too, but it’s more subtle.

Piers Hampton, by the way, did an astounding job on the narration. I was blown away by how well he captured the tone of Carter’s style with its delicately baroque airs and subtle ridiculousness. One of my 2 favorite narrations of all time. Bravo!

Love this book!

What does one say about Angela’s sentences? This book reminds me that words can be literature…. Alluring literature… I like to read this book every few years. It is especially delightful when I follow along as this narrator reads it to me. Delicious. A lovely escape into a magical realm where male and female energies dance apart and back together again in an undulating sea of almost anonymity… I find both the book and the narration intoxicating.