The Furies (Magill Book Reviews)

At a glance:

Janet Hobhouse (1948-1991) had nearly completed THE FURIES at the time of her death, but the final chapter remains with fragments and synopsis. This “ending” and its deeply emotional tone is appropriate to the situation of the narrator, Helen, who faces death from ovarian cancer. Throughout the novel Hobhouse invites comparison with her own life (e.g., Helen writes a biography of Gertrude Stein and a book about artists, as did Hobhouse). The lush textual density of the prose is perfectly suited to Helen’s conflicts and those of the three generations of women before her.

As the novel opens, Helen ponders faded photographs and recalls family genealogy which emphasizes the women; husbands and fathers are absent, missing, uninvolved. Helen’s great grandmother had two daughters, each very different. Emma, Helen’s grandmother, also had two strikingly dissimilar daughters. Bett, Helen’s mother, is exceptionally beautiful but unable to sustain a job or a relationship.

Helen’s childhood is difficult. Her mother constantly moves to avoid creditors, and Helen is tossed between mother, grandmother, and harsh boarding school. The patterns of abandonment and wildly desired reunions echo the dualities of the previous women and also appear in the adult Helen’s relationships with men. She goes to England to find her father, who is unhappy to see her. While studying at Oxford she is engaged to one man but falls in love with another who has his own family problems.

A section titled “The Furies” encapsulates Helen’s struggles to come to terms with continued miseries and abandonments. Just as hope returns, the fatal cancer appears, and the final section is titled “Alone.”

Written in an intense and evocative style, the novel is a gripping story of the narrator who, in a life of anguish, emerges heroic.

Sources for Further Study

Kirkus Reviews. LX, November 1, 1992, p.1326.

Library Journal. CXVIII, January, 1993, p.165.

London Review of Books. XV, March 11, 1993, p.19.

Los Angeles Times Book Review. April 25, 1993, p.2.

The New York Review of Books. XL, May 13, 1993, p.47.

The New York Times Book Review. XCVIII, January 10, 1993, p.11.

Publishers Weekly. CCXXXIX, November 2, 1992, p.48.

The Times Literary Supplement. October 16, 1992, p.23.

The Wall Street Journal. February 23, 1993, p. A18.

The Washington Post Book World. XXIII, February 7, 1993, p.8.