Terminal Velocity - Hardcover

Boyd, Blanche Mccrary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679430083 ISBN 13: 9780679430087

Publisher: Knopf, 1997

Synopsis

"In 1970 I realized that the Sixties were passing me by. I had never even smoked a joint, or slept with anyone besides my husband. A year later I had left Nicky, changed my name from Ellen to Rain, and moved to a radical lesbian commune in California named Red Moon Rising, where I was playing the Ten of Hearts in an outdoor production of Alice in Wonderland when two FBI agents arrived to arrest the Red Queen . . ."

So begins Blanche McCrary Boyd's brilliantly raucous account of self-styled feminist outlaws, their desperate adventures and extraordinary fates. Ellen, the narrator of Boyd's previous novel, The Revolution of Little Girls, this time pierces the heart of the sexual revolution in her quest to find a woman hero or--by default--to become one.

Ferociously paced, Terminal Velocity delineates six wonderfully engaging characters: Artemis Foote, for whom being rich, talented, and beautiful is a kind of game; Jordan, a messianic fugitive who becomes Ellen's lover; Amethyst Woman, a Marxist/Leninist dentist; Ross, a red-diaper baby and now a columnist for Ramparts; and Pearl, an art history professor turned hippie. At the center of this vortex is Ellen, prior to her transformation happily married and a rising young editor at a genteel publishing house in Boston. Together with these women, she is caught in the political and moral tailspin of the Sixties, living in a sexualized world-without-boundaries that leads them, eventually, to destruction, acceptance, and even redemption.

Deadpan funny and exquisitely moving, Terminal Velocity brings Boyd's lyricism, humor, and depth to material largely unexplored in American literature.

About this title

Review:

This novel follows the adventures of Ellen, the narrator of Blanche McCrary Boyd's previous, Lambda Literary Award-winning novel, The Revolution of Little Girls. In this fast-paced romp, Ellen leaves her husband, changes her name (to Rain), takes drugs, and lives in a radical lesbian commune. Boyd's wry take on the 1970s feminist movement will be a fun read for people who didn't live through those years and wonder what they were like. There's a lot of snappy dialogue, and Boyd has fun playing with clichés about the women's liberation movement.

About the Author:

The author of three novels and a collection of essays, Blanche McCrary Boyd is Professor of English and Writer-in-Residence at Connecticut College.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0679430083
• ISBN 13: 9780679430087
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 255