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Indelicacy
Indelicacy | Amina Cain
11 posts | 9 read | 12 to read
An intimate, elegant, and deceptively sinister story of what a woman will do to take control of her life. A woman aspiring to a contemplative life faces innumerable obstacles--cultural, financial, sexual, and metaphysical -- that stand between her and the freedom to live as she desires. In "a strangely ageless world somewhere between Emily Dickinson and David Lynch" (Blake Butler), a cleaning woman at a museum of art nurtures aspirations to do more than simply dust the paintings that surround her. She dreams of having the liberty to explore them in writing, and so must find a way to win herself the security and time to use her mind. She escapes her lot by marrying a rich man sympathetic to her "hobby," but having gained a husband, a house, high society, and a maid, she finds that her new life of privilege is no less constrained. Not only has she taken up different forms of time-consuming labor -- social and erotic -- but she is now, however passively, forcing other women to clean up after her. Perhaps another and more drastic solution is necessary? Reminiscent of a lost Victorian classic in miniature, yet taking equal inspiration from such modern authors as Jean Rhys, Octavia Butler, Clarice Lispector, and Jean Genet, Indelicacy is at once a ghost story without a ghost, a fable without a moral, and a down-to-earth investigation of the barriers faced by women in both life and literature. It is a novel about seeing, class, desire, anxiety, pleasure, friendship, and the battle to find one's true calling.
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shawnmooney
Indelicacy | Amina Cain
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blurb
shawnmooney
Indelicacy | Amina Cain
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https://youtu.be/2crJ-7fHXYA

#shortyseptember
#victober

Intro

Queen Alexandra: Loyalty and Love by Frances Dimond

The Peacock by Isabel Bogdan, Annie Rutherford (Translator)

The Scream by Rohinton Mistry

Our Colors by Gengoroh Tagame, Anne Ishii (Translator)

We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland by Fintan O'Toole

Brain and Ten Fingers by Gerald Kersh

shawnmooney Indelicacy by Amina Cain

Queen Victoria's Mother by Dulcie M. Ashdown

A History of My Brief Body by Billy-Ray Belcourt

Courting Saskatchewan: A Celebration of Winter Feasts, Summer Loves & Rising Brookies by David Carpenter
2y
25 likes1 comment
review
Taylor
Indelicacy | Amina Cain
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Pickpick

One of my favorite novels I‘ve ever read, modern or old. It‘s so original in tone and feeling that it hurts. I couldn‘t get enough of the voice; I could never tell what was coming next, and was left mystified half the time, but loving it.

The length too! I adore its brevity; it‘s the perfect length. It‘s like Rachel Cusk but better. I highly recommend.

7 likes1 stack add
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bnp
Indelicacy | Amina Cain
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A lovely quiet read.

10 likes1 stack add
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bnp
Indelicacy | Amina Cain
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My second book for #FabulousFebruary. I read 32 pages. This is a short one to savor. (161 pages) It tells the story of a cleaning woman who wants to write, and of womens' friendship.

#FabulousFebruary @Andrew65

Andrew65 Well done 👏👏👏 4y
10 likes1 comment
review
akfreeborn
Indelicacy | Amina Cain
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Pickpick

This was a mesmerizing little feminist book set in a timeless era (maybe Victorian). Reminded me a little of the Awakening but I didn‘t feel as bad for the protagonist here and she did not have kids. She wanted to observe and write and better her situation but not be rescued. The kind of book you will think about for a while.

16 likes1 stack add
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ReadingEnvy
Indelicacy | Amina Cain
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Anyone who knows me knows I love a good list, especially long but not shortlists. The Center for Fiction longlist was announced - I‘ve checked off those I‘ve read already and added diamonds to those I have at home. More to find!

trueisa4letterword I loved Temporary! 4y
ReadingEnvy @trueisa4letterword oh great. The cover is really fun but that's as far as I've been so far. 4y
50 likes2 comments
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AMVP
Indelicacy | Amina Cain
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Pickpick

Read this one in store over the course of 4 days. Feel like the spectre of illness lent the read a somber atmosphere, which helped with some of the early & winter-set passages. Really enjoyed for its prose and the psychology of the protagonist. While the ending isn't much, the overall brevity makes that less an issue and, if anything, invites revisiting.

12 likes1 stack add
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AMVP
Indelicacy | Amina Cain
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I started reading this short novel at M. Judson's the other day; then I learned that the B&N near my job had a copy too, so I could finish it on my breaks.

readingjedi I hate March too, always a crushing disappointment. 5y
10 likes2 comments
review
Redwritinghood
Indelicacy | Amina Cain
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Mehso-so

This was a very unsatisfying read for me. The author seems to be trying to write a story with the gender roles flipped. The writing, however, is spare and comes across as very distant. There is no sense of time or place in this book and the main character lacks depth. I also found her quite unlikeable. She leaves her family because she wants to be on her own and become a writer. 👇🏻

Redwritinghood She gets married to a wealthy man mainly to provide her with financial support while she pursues her creative passions. When she‘s tired of him, she schemes to get him to leave her. This seems to be an intentional gender-role reversal, and it‘s just as unattractive here as it is in the traditional story of a man supported in his goals by a wife. 👇🏻 (edited) 5y
Redwritinghood Perhaps the lack of depth in this character made me dislike the book, even though I think this was also intentional. I know it was meant to illuminate how the same behavior in a woman may seem more offensive than it does in a man, but the reading experience was flat without much depth in the characters or any idea of where and when the story takes place. 2.5⭐️ #hoopla 5y
Crazeedi Well written review, thanks 5y
49 likes3 comments