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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 8, 1984)
RE V I E W Rita Mae and "Burnton W idow s" Sudden Death, by Rita Mae Brown. Bantam PB. $3.95 . bu Karen fesser Readers who enjoyed Rita Mae Brown's previous works of fiction may be mildly disappointed by her latest venture. Sud den Death. In Ruby fruit Junqle. the autobiographical overtones are sub dued by the raucous and zany adven tures of Molly Bolt as she discovers her lesbianism and the unwelcome implica tions of her discovery. This. Brown's first fictional endeavor, is an insightful cele bration of unabashed courage and ambition. Six o f One is a vibrant illustra tion of Brown's ability to combine real hu man emotion with an uncontained imagi nation and the product is winning fiction. Sudden Death delivers Brown's keen wit and sense of humor but thev come wrapped in numerous, though fortunately brief, diatribes against the shortcomings of human nature. There is nothing inhe rently wrong with an author attempting to enlighten her readers with moving revela tions of the facts (and fallacies) of life. In fact. Brown warns the reader of the forth coming pearls of wisdom in her Genesis. iThe Genesis serves somewhat as a fore ward to Sudden Death and is well worth reading for those of you who customarily skip the first twenty pages of any book.) However, the problem is that Brown s pearls of wisdom are rather presumptuous and not too enlightening. Oh. well, the excess baggage is worth muddling through, particularly if Brown's psychoan alytical definition of “ dvke" is just ignored. The "Scruples variety" of fiction Brown lapses into as she recounts the trials and tribulations of women's professional tennis notwithstanding. Sudden Death is enter taining reading. Brown's efforts to have the reader fall in love with the protagonist (and the protagonist is not always her self!) are as effective as ever. An interest ing twist to Sudden Death is that at its conclusion one wonders just who the chief protagonist is. Carmen, the star of the wo men's tennis circuit, and Harriet, her pro fessor lover, are strong characters throughout but "sudden death" describes more than Carmen's struggles in her love affair with tennis and her obsession with winning at the Grand Slam. Though one mav wearv of the primary relationship, that between Carmen and Harriet, the satellite interactions sustain the reader s enchantment with Brown's knack for char acter development. Babv Jesus. Harriet's feline "progen\ and its own attempt at literary acclaim make reading Sudden Death a must for anv cat afficionado: Harriet has just gotten off the phone with Babv Jesus. "What book did vou sav Babv Jesus was writing?" Carmen asked. "Catalonue'.' (book about feline lumberjacks.) “ Hmm." She attacked her steak and then brightened. "I think she'd make more money if she wrote one called Catenorq'.' "Oh. whv is that?" “ Kitty murders. Couldn't miss. Jane Fulton, a reporter whose charac 11 ter is obviously modeled after the late Judy Cook Lacy to whom the book is de dicated. provides relief to Harriet and their dalliances away from the tennis circuit provide the reader with relief. Brown s appreciation of camaraderie is brilliantly displayed in all her works. As is tfv ra ** jvjth most of Brown's books, thp e “ >r. upon finishing Sudden Death is faced vith the challenge of dis cerning when the memoirs end and the fiction begins. I suppose this is more of an option than a compulsion but more than idle curiosity provides the impetus for such mental trifling. It is Brown's provocative style of fiction writing that make her books entertaining long after the cover is closed. Sudden Death is a welcome and refresh ing addition to the growing field of gav and lesbian literature. P O R T L A N D GAY MEN’S CHORUS PRESENTS: Burnton Widows, by Vicki McConnell, Naiad Press PB, $7,95. bu Lisa B m slauqh Imagine driving along the beautiful Oregon Coast and enjoving the rocks and ocean sprav when a huge limestone castle comes into view. Your imagination runs wild. Burnton Widows is a gripping mystery about an old limestone castle on the Ore gon Coast which was built and lived in bv generations of lesbians. Two of the wo men were murdered in the castle on the night of their ninth anniversary. One year after the murder, reporter Nvla Wade, the Burnton Beacon's newest reporter, intrigued by the beauty and her- storv of the castle, decides to do her first feature on the crime. One of Nyla's first stops is the local histor ical society, where she meets Perry Day Truman, the gav curator of the museum. Perry's knowledge of the castle's history and of the women who have lived there provide the bulk of Nyla's story. Perry takes her to the very beginning when Dru Ketchum and her sister Molly arrived in Burnton by wagon train: to Mercy and her black evangelist lover. Olympia Swan raising Mercy's daughter in the castle: to Perry's late friends, the murdered Val and Joan. Val and Joan had. in their will, named Perry as the receiver of the castle, but Joan's greedy children are contesting the will. Joan's offspring have received a huge offer from Seascape, a land devel oping corporation, which wants to tear down the castle and build a glorified Howard Johnson's on the bluff. The demolition of the castle will also burv Joan's “ guestionable lifestyle and the castle's "sordid past Meanwhile, looking through the castle and talking to townspeople about its her- story. Nyla discovers that the events sur rounding the Burnton Widows' murders just do not piece together. Nyla's untrained investigative reporting goes to work. But dredging up a closed murder case a few weeks before a tourist season opens in a small coastal town doesn't sit well with the locals. Nvla Wade is in for a lot of supi ses. and so is the reader Bm nton Widows is the kind of book one just won’t be able to put down. It is excellent reading and the familiarity of the setting makes for a very interesting diversion. CELEBRATING four years of song 8pm SATURDAY, JUNE 23 AND 2pm SUNDAY, JUN E 2 4 THE EASTSIDE PERFORMANCE CENTER 531 SE 14th at Stark, Portland, Oregon A Benefit For The Cascade AIDS Project. TICKETS: Available At T he l>oor. Or In Advance From : Dugan's. Forward (>ear, Roxy Hearts, Sensorium . C.C. Slau ghter s, Som ebody's Place and T he O th er Side o f M idnight (,nptm D nun n » m w i i***« Just Out. June R-June 22