THE PEOPLE FROM 'THE WORLD IS FULL OF MARRIED MEN’, THE NOVEL

A few weeks ago, after DNFing many books I thought would bring me joy, I decided to go back to the basics and reread my favorite authors, starting with Jackie Collins. I remember a time when I couldn’t get enough of her. I always seemed to have my nose in one of her books to the point of dreading the day that I would have to wait for a new release. I cured that itch by slowing down on my reading. Even now, after her passing in 2015, I still have some titles from hers just waiting to be cracked open. So anyway, without further ado, let’s focus on her debut novel THE WORLD IS FULL OF MARRIED MEN (Signet, 1969).

 

Set in London in the swinging ‘60s, the story focuses on three main characters: the cheating husband, the wife and the mistress. Two are  antagonists. Can you guess which one? I bet you can. Yet, Collins manages to make them all sympathetic despite their many flaws. Take the character of Claudia, for example, the bitchy self-possessed mistress. The author clearly does not want you to root for her. Despite of that, it’s really hard not to, especially when you get the feeling that you know exactly where she’s coming from (dysfunctional family, insecure little girl, the discovery of sex at a young age...). Like many girls her age, you know that she’ll be fine. She’ll even make it as an actress, her fervent wish. It’ll only take more casting couches to get there. And besides, isn’t that why David came into the picture in the first place? 

 

David, the other antagonist, is a successful advertising executive who desperately needs excitement in his life. And what better way to get it than having a wild fling with the most beautiful girl passing at his firm, because truthfully, his wife barely does it for him anymore. She may still be pretty, faithful, understanding and all that shit but the sparks are definitely gone. If only his mistress Claudia was a little less cray-cray he’d convince her to marry him. Oh, make no mistake, this guy loves the recklessness in her, especially in between the sheets, but he sometimes wishes he could tame her, like he does pretty much with his wife. No can do, it seems, which leads him into all kind of embarrassing situations. But he won’t give her up, not yet. Not until he feels that the relationship has really run its course. Then who knows who will be next? Now, where the heck is his secretary?

 

Which brings us to the most important character in the novel, Linda, the wife who’s being cheated on. Sure, she knows something is up. She is not stupid. David has not been the same lately. He’s never home anymore. Plus, he’s barely touched her in months. Had the children been grown she would have started thinking of leaving him. For now, well, she just can’t. Or so she thinks, for a chance meeting in a sit-in protest in downtown London will change the course of her monotonous life. And that my friends is the exact moment of the Jackie Collins girls can do anything motto, because, yes, Linda will eventually emancipate herself from her present life. She will discover that, like her cheating husband, she can do whatever the fuck she wants. It will start with a fling, then move on to a more serious relationship which, however, will not be as evident from the get go. But I’ll let you find out the rest for yourself.

 

THE WORLD IS FULL OF MARRIED MEN, like all of Collins later work,is a feminist novel. Empowering women is her thing, and thank heavens for that, for I would not have it any other way. It’s what makes her novels so compelling. But let’s get something straight before I finish. Not all men are pigs in her novels. Some of them are actually pretty decent. You just got to pair them with the required antagonists—male or female, I must add. Then the story truly sparkles—and boy! does THE WORLD IS FULL OF MARRIED MEN glow... Pick it up and see for yourself.

 

 

Until next post—Martin 

Our queen on the cover of the 1968 HC