The Thinking Reed. Paperback - 1966

New York, NY The Viking Press: Viking Compass, 1966. Paperback First Ed thus, but later printing. Good+ in Wraps: shows indications of moderate use; slight spine lean; light wear to extremities; mild rubbing and faint soiling to wrapper covers. A clean, sturdy, presentable copy. NOT a Remainder. NOT a Book-Club Edition. NOT an Ex-Library copy. 8vo. 431pp. Trade Paperback. West is at her most impressive in this little-known but gorgeous novel. Described as one of the first and few genuine "novel of ideas" written by a woman, this is a profound exploration of human emotions, choices and the interplay of fate and free will. It is also a delightful, quirky love story, with an accessible and funny plot and two endearing main characters. Isabel is a bored, rich, beautiful American woman living a life of luxury in Paris, where excitement comes in the form of a hot-tempered French lover. Vain, snobbish, yet highly sympathetic, Isabel is also fiercely intelligent and in desperate quest of something more from life than pretty clothes and feckless men -- enjoyable as they have been. Deciding to settle down and pursue a solid life plan, she ends up getting married -- by accident. How this "accident" happens, you'll have to read the book, it's marvelously done and provides the book's key plot point. Suffice it to say, neither the marriage nor its outcome are predictable in the least. Nothing is "traditionally" romantic in any sense. Yet the novel is deeply satisfying, both emotionally and intellectually. the alughter that it evokes is of a particularly rich and knowing quality; it will linger long in your memory after reading it.