A conflict of cultures is the backdrop for this early Francine Prose novel. Simone decides to flee Haiti (it's the very unsettled early 1990s). Her lover has cheated; there's no reason to stay, every reason to flee to the U.S. So she finds a way.Simone finds her way to Hudson's Landing, New York, a place of contemporary American values and problems, consumer culture, money, old families, fast living, a whole new type of living that her past experience never prepared her for. Now she has moved from the poorest land in the hemisphere to one of the wealthiest areas, where all the inhabitants have problems that are soon to invade her life. There may not be shooting on the streets every night, but there's lots of back stabbing, occasional animals left hanging dead in the woods.A sample description:The driveway seemed several times longer than the road from home. Finally they reached the house: a white segmented Palladian dinosaur creeping down toward the Hudson. Small groups chatted on the rolling lawn, while braver guests advanced warily to admire the view of the river, as if the river were a sleeping child or dog they were afraid of waking. (p 102)This is a very interesting and thought provoking darkly written satire. My only issue is that it does not always seem to flow smoothly. It seemed to stutter through the action at times...but this may well be because it is Simone's reaction to all that happens (and we see everything through her eyes). Overall, however, I'm glad I read it and I'm looking forward to sampling more of Prose.3.5* if I could
I am generally a big fan of Prose's work (fighting the urge to pun right now), but this is not among her best. It's one of her early works, and I think that probably has a lot to do with it. It's very well written, but the observations about her characters just aren't as sharp as they have grown to be in some of her more recent novels. This attempts to be a satirical novel but lacks the subtlety to succeed entirely. Her skill in this regard has grown significantly since this novel's publication in 1992, as evidenced by *Blue Angel* and *A Changed Man*.
