Helpful Score: 1
What do women want sexually? Here 21 women writers, some pseudonymous, spin a variety of candid erotic fantasies in an attempt to answer the question with a turn-on for every taste and circumstance. One of the most imaginative, "The House of the Twin Jewels," describes a futuristic brothel for female patrons. "A Japanese Play" features group sex for money while the camera rolls. "The Scavenger Hunt" and "Humming" celebrate lesbian love, the latter affording a healing experience for one partner, her "aging body wracked these days with the storms of menopause." In "Fearful Symmetry" the handicapped male lover has a prosthetic arm. "Cradles of Light" mingles autoerotic enjoyments with memories of the past. Clinical therapist Barbach has written and edited several volumes (including the nonfiction Pleasures: Women Write Erotica designed to help women fulfill their sensual potential. Her introductory comments to this book stress the need for affirmation, tenderness and mystery. Unhappily, many of the stories suffer from awkwardly sentimental and amateurish writing. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
