Angela Carter explores sexual desire in this dystopian science fiction novel. Sex dominates this novel, painful, erotic, disgusting perhaps, but mostly controlling, it is life pushed to extremes as the veneer of civilisation dissolves, as extreme climatic conditions are tearing the world or at least America apart. The male phallus is taken to extreme limits as the beautiful boy Evelyn is forcibly transformed into the new Eve. Is it punishment for his aggressive male sexuality or is it a transformation to the female that can ultimately repopulate a dying world? well of course it is not as simple as that. The key word in the title of the book is passion; sexual passion, obsession, suffering, religion and myth making are all part of the mix. Everybody suffers, mostly as a result of others sexual needs, rape is the most common form of sexual possession; Evelyn is raped once as a man and continually raped as a woman, but she can also be a mother figure, transcending the sexual chaos, whatever her role her most significant trait is passivity.

Angela Carter hangs all these themes onto a solid road-movie like story; told by Evelyn. Obsessed by the film star Tristessa, he leaves London to carve out a new life for himself in New York, but his stay is soon overshadowed by a city collapsing in on itself. He is seduced by the eroticism of Leilah, a black woman of the city, but when she gets pregnant, Evelyn drives her to have an abortion. He leaves her in a mess and flees the city and his responsibilities to find himself in the desert like landscape that is sucking up America. He is captured by the women of Beulah who see him as the new Eve. He is forcibly led deep underground to the the womb-like operating room of Mother; an enormous woman who rapes Evelyn to collect his seed, which she will use to impregnate him when she has surgically changed him into a woman. Evelyn now Eve escapes before she can be impregnated, but falls into the hands of Zero a Charles Manson like figure who is worshipped by a bevy of female slaves. Eve becomes one of his slaves, but Zero is becoming increasingly obsessed by tracking down Tristessa who he accuses of robbing him of his fertility. More adventures follow and the book figuratively leads Eve back to the womb.

"Tristessa had long since joined Billie Holliday and Judy Garland in the queenly pantheon of women who expose their scars with pride, pointing to their emblematic despair just as a medieval saint points to the wounds of his martyrdom."

The book can be read on a number of levels; from an erotic science fiction dystopian romp through America or as a full scale analysis of gender confusion theory topped by matriarchal control. There are obviously layers of meaning to be picked over at the readers leisure, but although these are not always clear, the power and potency of Angela Carters writing most certainly is. Her commentary on modern society segues into a tightly controlled storyline, there are no throwaway wisecracks, just deep insightful writing that can resonate with even the most rapid reading of this novel. She does nastiness, brutality, love and eroticism, but weds this too a story that seems to pour itself into an ending that is logical and satisfying. It is a no holds barred drive across a future America that can also supply that sense of wonder that makes for good science fiction reading. Originally published in 1982, its ideas and themes might seem a little passé today, but I doubt that any contemporary writers would be able to compete with the quality of the writing. I can see some people rating this novel as five stars, but for me, who can hardly keep pace with modern trends in violence and feminist literature, I give it a cowardly four stars. ( )

As post-apocalyptic visions of future America go this is one of the most out there. New York is dangerous and at war with itself, crazed women in the desert change the main character, Evelyn, a hapless male Brit, into Eve, a beautiful woman. And then it really gets a bit odd. Lots in here about gender and identity politics, about maternity, fertility and sexuality. It's pretty full on and lurid. A curate's egg I think. ( )

I guess you can describe this as a futuristic dystopian novel. Evelyn, an Englishman visiting New York City, gets caught up in the violent break-up of that city and escapes, driving across the country to the desert. There he is kidnapped by a militant feminist group that turns him into a woman, the perfect woman. Now, as Eve, she escapes that group only to be kidnapped by Zero and his band of seven wives, to become wife #8. They make a pilgrimage to the home of legendary Hollywood star Tristessa. Eve and Tristessa then escape, only to be captured by a band of young militant boys who are bound for California to fight in the civil war there. Just a little too surreal, too weird for me - I didn't enjoy it. ( )

Review: The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter.

I decided to read this book and see what all the controversy was about. After the first couple of chapters I thought, “Oh no, I can’t read this book”, but I went on. The only reason I did was because I read some of the reviews and started visualizing a different version of the story. If you’re a kind of reader who can read through the complex depths of what Angela Carter is writing it becomes a whole different story. Much of the book was graphic but not in the form of porn.

At a sub-conscious level it covered all the essence of a character, Evelyn (an English name for a male) a young male professor who took advantage of a exotic dancer. He got her pregnant and then abandoned her in New York when a group of black revolutionaries were about to burn the collage to the ground and in Harlem white feminist revolutionaries where also harassing men. Evelyn then flees New York and heads for the desert where he is captured by another group of feminist who lived underground and worshiped a former surgeon who has transformed herself into a grotesque goddess named Cybele. This feminist goddess is the one who changes Evelyn to Eve physically altering all body parts.

The story goes on visually for the reader as the new Eve tries to survive as a female. One thing he/she does realize is that women truly are made into nurturers, into mothers, and into objects of sexual desire. Eve has now become the hunted and not the hunter….She ends up escaping the feminist Beulah group and is later captured by a woman-hater named Zero and his harem of female sex slaves…..during one of their episodes of gratification Eve, also meets a Hollywood screen goddess named Tristessa who she falls in love with….but Tristessa also has secret but her life is almost over…..The end of the book is near….

Angela Carter’s words are rich, chilling, and also shows passion in a more absorbed way. The entire book was held together by Carter’s boldness, creative style creating Eve’s character and behavior as the topic of the story. The book was complex, graphic, and at times over the top but following the story to the end gave me the advantage to decipher Angela Carter’s intentions.
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This was too "out there" for me, I just couldn't get into it and I really tried. I loved [b:The Bloody Chamber|49011|The Bloody Chamber|Angela Carter|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170357108s/49011.jpg|47950] but this was nothing like that. ( )