I have seen some uneducated "reviews" of this book. They are indicative of people who don't understand much about the era, the language, what the author could get away with in light of harsh censorship, and more. I say: please do not pay attention to these "reviews."
However, before you read this book, you might need to understand something about Southern California in the late 1930s, early 1940s, and you might want to familiarize yourself with some of the slang words/phrases that are used quite liberally and frequently throughout the book. Some of it is commented on; others you are simply going to have to look up ("varlet," anyone?).
Assuming you have done that, this is a wonderful read. And most importantly, despite the current hysteria that no one can write anything these days unless the writer is exactly the same sexual/racial/ethnic make-up of the individual that the story is about, James M. Cain clearly could write from the POV of a woman at that time. Now he would be accused of being sexist and God knows what else, but as a man who writes female-driven screenplays, I appreciate his wonderful attention to detail about the type of clothes Mildred wore, her concerns about the changing shape of her body under pressure and the small, feminine details that I imagine most men wouldn't pick up on.
That said: This is a story about a somewhat simple woman (Mildred), a housewife, who yearns for greater things, most importantly for her oldest daughter Veda. Why this is remains a mystery, because Veda is an obnoxious brat who is undeserving of anything that Mildred does for her and has a completely distorted sense of her own importance and of reality.
But, as many of us are, Mildred is blinded by her love and devotion to her child above all else, and this is her motivation to rise from humble housewife to restaurant tycoon, all the while having to rely on the men in her life: Bert, her ex-husband, who seems to still love Mildred, but is a dreamer incapable of holding down a solid job; Wally, her adviser, who seems more interested in sleeping with Mildred than helping her, and Monty, a former playboy who is down on his luck and apparently not too proud to accept handouts from Mildred.
Mildred survives divorce, the death of her first child (Ray), and being forced to take work as a waitress (she apparently has no office skills) in order to survive. It's here, at her first waitress job that she realizes she can bake better pies than the ones served at the diner where she works, which sets her on her climb upward.
We are taken deep into the world of opening a new restaurant, of negotiating, of what it might have been like for a woman unschooled in business to have taken this leap of faith... all while Veda scoffs at Mildred for having to be so "common," and being so "Glendale." Here Mildred works herself to the bone to give Veda nice clothes, a grand piano (Veda at first thinks she's going to be a classical pianist) and more, but it doesn't make any difference how much Mildred gives Veda; Veda's whole goal is to get the hell out of Glendale (a sort of middle-class suburban area in Southern California) and move upward through society as quickly as she can. If that happens to mean faking pregnancies and accusing rich boys of being the father just so she can get money, so be it.
Veda has no shame in pursuing her ulterior motive: to get away from Mildred and her suffocating love. And Mildred, too, has no shame in pursuing her ulterior motive: to keep Veda close to her at all times.
If I had a problem with this story, it would be that I could not understand why Mildred constantly forgave Veda (well, I won't give away the ending) and would do anything to win her back. Veda was obnoxious, spoiled, ungrateful, hateful, cruel and dismissive. What she deserved was, as my late father would say, "a good, swift kick."
The end of the story does NOT mirror what happened in the movie version (with Joan Crawford, a classic film, yes, but NOT the same as the book), and in many ways, I found the ending of the book more satisfying.
As I read it, I could see why Zachary Scott was cast as Monty and Jack Carson as Wally. They really nailed the sort of slightly sleazy individuals described in the book. Joan Crawford would not have been my first (or last) choice as Mildred, nor would Ann Blyth have been my first choice for Veda (although she would have been on the list).
All the characters in the book are wonderfully alive and the language of the time and the locales (Laguna Beach!) are all brought to loving life by Mr. Cain.
There are several dialogues that go on and on, and Mr. Cain's attempt to mimic the language of several non-English speaking individuals might be considered cringeworthy now. There are also several references to the word "w-p" -- describing Veda's voice teacher. This is upsetting, but then, that's how white people talked about "the others" -- that was accepted in their worlds, as if it would always be that way. In this way, the book is extremely revealing about the true inner thoughts of middle-class white Americans.
If you can handle some of the slang and the fact that this story takes place in a time when women in general did not have that much of their own power, you will find a fascinating story about a mother-daughter relationship that is riveting.
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Top reviews from other countries
Ana Kazan
Excelente. É a segunda vez que leio, e já assisti a série duas vezes.
Reviewed in Brazil on March 2, 2017
