Description
The author of the critically acclaimed The Laughter—winner of the Washington State Book Award—returns with this satirical feminist novel about a woman of a certain age who sparks a firestorm when she holds a contest, based on a fabled Indian custom, in which men compete to win her affections.
To celebrate her upcoming birthday, a woman announces she will hold a swayamvar—a custom in her native Indian culture from ancient times in which suitors compete in a feat of wills and strength to win the hand of a beautiful princess. A respected intellectual living in Seattle, the twice-divorced woman once declared that she was “past such petty matters as love,” but her overwhelming need to bolster her self-esteem and satisfy her sexual libido can no longer be denied.
In doing something so romantically whimsical, she prepares herself to be laughed at by her friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Yet, to her surprise, she receives support from a circle of ardent admirers, including a wedding planner looking for the next enchanting thing, a disability rights activist making a documentary film, and even, her reluctant adult son. She also faces unexpected detractors—the Men's Rights Movement, angry at her objectification of men, protest the project. And there are visits from goddesses and princesses past who both try to stop her and cheer her on. She must also reckon with her family’s past and the terrible curse on those members who show an intemperance of spirit.
As her carefully laid-out plan explodes into spectacle, the woman must decide the perfect feat her prospective suitors need to perform to win her aging hand. What feat will define a newer, better masculinity? What feat will it take for her to trust in the tenderness of love?
A humorous and pointed fable for our times, Intemperance is also a beautiful meditation on aging, romance, love, and hope.