MILDRED
PIERCE is different from Cain's other work in that there are no
murders, no crimes at all. It's a portrait of a woman in the years
during the depression trying to support her two daughters and find some
happiness for herself.
She turns out to be very good at
supporting them financially, and she parlays her skills for pie-making
into a small restaurant chain. She is less successful in supporting her
family in other ways though and allows her unbridled love for her older
daughter undo everything.
The men are not admirable; no one comes
off very well. Economic distress may have a hand in this, of course.
This book provides the reader with a good portrait of life in southern
California during the depression. These are not the same people we see
in THE GRAPES OF WRATH, of course. But they struggle too.
One of
the biggest fascinations for me was how Cain laid out the details of
life for Mildred Pierce: how a restaurant is run, how a waitress learns
her craft, how people dress, decorate their homes, all of these things.
And it also has four strong women as characters. Pretty unusual. It's
the men who are weak in MILDRED PIERCE.
Mildred is one of the
more enigmatic characters in fiction. Was she a monster herself? Did she
turn the people in her lives into monsters? Would Vida have been the
way she was if raised by someone else? Certainly Mildred's admiration
for Vida's worst flaws, traits she saw as fine and noble rather than
cruel and superficial, allowed them to flourish. Validated them. Would
she have lost her husband had she provided him with more emotional
support? These are the questions that make this book work so well.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for those who like dark characters.
8 comments:
A major gap on my reading and one that I hope to correct in 2023. Thank_ for the reminder, and thank_ for the great review, Patti!
Such strong characters in this one, Patti! And it does make you think about a lot of things (relationships, etc.). I haven't thought of this one for a while...
Love James Cain's noirish novels!
Even though I know Cain to have been a more than impressive writer when at the top of his game (and one who quit THE NEW YORKER since he wouldn't put up with Harold Ross's whims...one grins to think of what he would've said to William Shawn sometime in the first day or two of employment), I still haven't cracked MILDRED PIERCE, either, expecting a more intense version of what goes on in the film adaptations. My foolishness. Thanks for the review!
Yes, well worth reading.
It must have been in the 1980s that I read four Cain novels, one right after the other: The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Serenade, and Mildred Pierce. If memory serves, all of them had strong (if sometimes crooked) women, and weak men. I recall Mildred being grittier than the Hollywood film made from it.
This is a tense, prickly roman noir in which all the characters have significant flaws.
The book is excellent and I just ordered DVD so I can watch Joan Crawford’s Oscar winning performance Best Actress 1945.
What a classic nail-biter this is!!
And the Kate Winslett version is also good.
Serenade still sits on my shelf waiting for me. Much grittier.
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