Bye-Bye

March 31, 1997
"One of the best experiences I've ever had was waking up from an abortion," says Rose, the protagonist of this uneven debut novel by poet (Without Asking) Ransom. That's only one of many attention-grabbing statements. We discover quite early that Rose Ann Waldin is an alias that she assumed after divorcing her detached, intellectually overbearing husband. Packed with sex scenes ranging from the odd to the sadomasochistic, the narrative chronicles the life that Rose creates for herself in the sexual underground as she floats among male and female lovers, sampling exotic sexual experiences while remaining emotionally distant. At first, the sex scenes, handled unapologetically and without coyness, are vivid and fresh. But as they fail to build to a meaningful conclusion, they lose power and slip, instead, into a repeated cycle of handcuffs and leather straps. Aside from Rose's sexual antics, the narrative is thin. Rose's past is handled only in broad strokes (a domineering mother is recalled occasionally), and there is little plot development. Rose's sexual liberation, even in its less attractive moments, is an interesting theme, but here the desire to shock seems to have overcome the impetus to fully explore Rose's character. (May) FYI: Bye-Bye won the New York University Press Prize for Fiction, formerly known as the Bobst Award for Emerging Writers.

May 15, 1997
Ransom won the 1996 New York University Press Prize for Fiction for this first novel about a young woman's sexual escapades and search for identity. No one in this novel has a name except for the narrator, Rosie, but even that is just a name she chooses when she decides to change her identity. The other characters are "My Lover," a woman she met after seeing her photographs in a porn magazine; the Bartender, a man who made her a drink at a performance art happening; and the Personal Ad, a bizarre woman she meets through the personals. The author is trying to challenge the reader about conceptions of identity but gets so caught up in trying to be cutting edge that she fails to make the narrator interesting or appealing. The saving grace is Ransom's gift for description and her keen observations. Recommended only where there is an interest in bisexual, literary erotica.--Editha Ann Wilberton, Kansas City P.L., Kan.