My Review* of Caroline Woods' "The Lunar Housewife"

Cold War Fantasy: Part 2

 

About a year ago I reviewed “The Vixen” a novel about the CIA’s involvement in America’s literary scene in the early 1950’s and with Caroline Woods’ novel, here we go again.( Shulmaven: My Amazon Review of Francine Prose's "The Vixen" ) I guess something is in the water. In this case we have Louise Leithauser, an aspiring novelist from very modest means, circulating among New York’s literary highbrows while working for a new magazine called “Downtown.” Her boss there is also her paramour, and he calls on her to interview Ernest Hemingway.

 

However, because of CIA influence on the publication her interview is edited by eliminating pro-Castro and anti-Batista comments. We also witness the CIA’s fingerprints all over the new magazine. So much so that we find out that the CIA is the key financial backer of the magazine. To be sure the CIA did set up front organizations in the 1950’s, but in the case of this novel, the implied criticism is over the top. Remember this was in the early days of the Cold War and Russia, just as it is today, was evil.

 

Interspersed in the dialogue is Louise’s own novel about a Russian space mission on the moon and much that happens on the moon overlaps with Louise’s life on earth.  Hence the title of the book. To me this makes the entire work disjointed.

 

I started out liking the novel, but as it went on, it grew tiresome. I would also note one anachronism where Louise and her lover take a jet to Rome in 1953. There was no jet service between New York and Rome in 1953.

*-Amazon has yet to post this review. At last here is the Amazon URL: Cold War Fantasy: Part 2 (amazon.com)