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Woman's World: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Graham Rawle
Publisher: Counterpoint
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $12.50
You Save: $12.50 (50%)
New (26) Used (12) from $9.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 184603
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 450
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 6.3 x 1.6
ISBN: 159376183X
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9781593761837
ASIN: 159376183X
Publication Date: January 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Expedited shipping is not available for this item. Items are mailed via USPS media mail within 2 business days and should arrive 4-14 business days later.
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Product Description
Norma Fontaine lives in a world of handy tips and sensible advice. Whether it's choosing the right girdle or honing her feminine allure, she measures life by the standards set in women’s magazines. But Norma discovers that the real world is less delightful — and more sinister — than portrayed in the glossies. When dark secrets threaten her brother’s blossoming romance, Norma must decide whether to sacrifice life in a woman's world for the sake of her brother’s happiness. As her decision is slowly revealed, readers realize that, like life in the magazines, Norma isn’t quite what she seems. Painstakingly assembled from 40,000 fragments of text snipped from women’s magazines, this strange and wonderful tale moves at the breakneck pace of a pulp thriller. A stunning visual tour de force, Woman’s World is also a powerful reflection on society’s definition of what it means to be a woman.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
A Real 1960's Woman October 13, 2008
I found this book when I heard about Graham Rawle's re-illustrated Wizard of Oz. I couldn't get the technical concept of Woman's World out of my head. How long did it take to clip all those magazines? How did Rawle choose the character names?
Then I read the book and forgot all these questions. Roy and his delusional sister are believable and sympathetic. Eve, Roy's love interest, is kind without having a flat personality.
The detective noir themes could have been pushed a little harder, however. There are plenty of dark twists within the story, but little mystery until the ambiguous ending. It's a fun ride, anyway, with a narrator easily distracted by stains, soaps, modeling, and "women's work."
Perhaps the narrative's biggest triumph is its journey through the facade of popular 1960's femininity. The vibrant and flawed "Norma Fontaine" is the image of womanhood that Roy has found in women's magazines. Like this narrative, Norma is made with scraps and pieces of a commercial, frilly world that doesn't exist. The character is convincing and intriguing, though, just like this story.
 Totally unique work of art June 14, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is totally unique. Written in the style of a ransom note using words and phrases snipped from 1950s women's magazines, every page is a beautiful work of art. It's also a wonderful story: a clever, funny, sad and very moving tale about a 'woman' whose entire life is shaped by the magazine articles she dotes on. The text is surprisingly easy to read and the reading experience offers the added bonus of a visual treat. My favorite book in ages. Buy it!
More than just reading June 11, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
When I was a child I loved to climb into the window seat behind my grandmother's sofa, draw the curtains so I was hidden from anyone who came into the room, and spend hours poring over the stack of 1960s Home Beautiful and Women's Weekly magazines that resided there. The brittle, yellowing pages held such a visual fascination, with their improbable promises of domestic perfection, and this book transported me right back there.
I worried that the cut-and-paste style would prove distracting or that the narrative and the rhythm of the words would suffer from the limitations that Rawle imposed on himself, but I was delighted to find that, despite my reservations, the opposite occurred.
The appearance of the text -- gigantic drop capitals, strange fonts, pictures -- adds to the reading experience, as does the quirky injection of bathos or humour when Rawle quotes directly from ads for soap powder, advice columns, or romance stories.
My advice to you? As Kate Samperi would say, take your time to really taste and savour the exquisite word play and artistic presentation of this graphic novel.
 impress amount of work doesn't impress May 28, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Graphic designers and collage artists will appreciate the amount of work and thoughtfulness that went into the production of this book; it is quite beautifully designed. Unfortunately, the story is almost unreadable, and all too often, it seems the designer was entranced by entire sections of "housewifery" from the original magazines and stuck these bits in unedited. In its tendency to digress, it's kinda like trying to talk to someone who went off their meds.
Confession: I could not finish it, so maybe it gets really good... I dunno. I'd rather look at the pictures.
 Alot of excitement over nothing much... May 25, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
In reading & hearing about this book, I felt that this was one I had to get. When it came & I paged through it, yes I was impressed with the "set-up", and yes the author did an incredible amount of work, cutting & pasting and putting this unique read together. But as a readable story, I found it lacking in interest, plot and characterizations. I quickly passed on this read & resold it. Not worth the cost. If you get a chance to see it & browse through at a bookstore or library, I recommend doing that.
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