Product Description

These three long stories draw us into the lives of three women, all past their first youth, all facing unexpected crises. In the title story, the heroine's serenity is shattered when she learns that her husband is having an affair. In "The Age of Discretion," a successful, happily married professor finds herself increasingly distressed by her son's absorption in his young wife and her worldly values. In "The Monologue," a rich, spoiled woman, home alone on New Year's Eve, pours out a lifetime's rage and frustration in a harrowing diatribe. Enthralling as fiction, suffused with de Beauvoir's remarkable insights into women, The Woman Destroyed gives us a legendary writer at her best.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #450345 in Books
• Published on: 1987-08-12
• Released on: 1987-08-12
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"Witty, immensely adroit....These three women are believable individuals presented with a wry mixture of sympathy and exasperation."

-- The Atlantic

"A remarkable feat of empathy."

-- Times Literary Supplement

"Brilliant craftsmanship." -- Harper's

Cover photograph by Christine Rodin Cover design by Louise Fili

Pantheon Books, New York

Review
"Witty, immensely adroit....These three women are believable individuals presented with a wry mixture of sympathy and exasperation."

-- The Atlantic

"A remarkable feat of empathy."

-- Times Literary Supplement

"Brilliant craftsmanship." -- Harper's

Cover photograph by Christine Rodin Cover design by Louise Fili

Pantheon Books, New York

Language Notes
Text: English, French (translation)

Customer Reviews

Still so True!
The title story teaches us: Nothing can destroy a woman but a man, or even better, a woman can destroy herself only because of a man!

There is no woman who will not identify with most of the story. I was clearly thinking - only a woman can write such a story, becuse a man would never get it. Getting so desparate as to do the handwriting analysis, reading the horosocpes, seeking advice from anyone, and NOT LETTING GO, becuse she lost herself in this marriage and she can't bear the thought of finding herself back. I felt for both women in the story and both were so real.

A woman who ever denies feeling even parts of what Monique is feeling is lying to herself and others.

This is so painfully realistic!

Title story is compelling; all three are depressing.
This book contains three short stories, each of them about a "Woman Destroyed." Two are utterly depressing, and one is incoherent. The middle story was stream of consciousness babbling by a mad woman character, and I couldn't even finish it. The first story was depressing, and compelling enough to finish. The third story, the title story, was very compelling, defintely a page-turner, but also depressing.

This third story, A Woman Destroyed," tells the tale of a woman whose children have left home, and she experiences empty nest syndrome, only to find out her husband has been having an affair for years, while discouraging her from seeking emplyment and encouraging her to put all her focus into the children and home. He is a real rat, but yet you can see that he is truly torn, taht he thinks he is somehow protecting his wife, while he is ultimately destroying her. The most compelling aspect is the wife her self, watching her slow demise.

women of age
This are three short stories potraying three middle class women who are past their prime and face crisis in their lives. Simone de Beauvoir - existentialist philosopher and feminist reflected the conditiion of her contemporaries with genuine insight and understanding. Written almost 40 years ago the book did not loose its actuality, to the contrary , it's very moving.
I would recommend this small masterpiece to anyone, but I think that mature women's audience is going to appreciate and understand it the most.