Following her husband's death in an accident, beautiful young widow Joan Medford is forced to take a job serving drinks in a cocktail lounge to make ends meet. At the job she encounters two men who take an interest in her, a handsome young schemer and a wealthy but unwell older man who rewards her for her attentions with a $50,000 tip and an unconventional offer of marriage...
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Following her husband's death in an accident, beautiful young widow Joan Medford is forced to take a job serving drinks in a cocktail lounge to make ends meet. At the job she encounters two men who take an interest in her, a handsome young schemer and a wealthy but unwell older man who rewards her for her attentions with a $50,000 tip and an unconventional offer of marriage...
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James M. Cain (1892 -- 1977) is best-known for his early novels including "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "Double Indemnity" and "Mildred Pierce" and for the many movies based on his writing. After these successes, written while working as a Hollywood screenwriter, Cain had mixed success and for a time was largely forgotten. He returned to his home in Hyattsville, Maryland (a suburb of Washington, D.C.) in 1948 and continued to write. Written just before his death, Cain's final novel, "The Cocktail Waitress" existed only in various partially editied manuscripts. Edited meticulously by Charles Ardai,the novel is being published in 2012 for the first time.
Cain's novel is largely set in Hyattsville and other Washington D.C. suburbia during the 1950s. The use of the drug Thalidomide during this time, which resulted in many severe birth defects, forms an important backdrop to the book. The book's primary character, a highly sexual femme fatale in her early 20's, Joan White, narrates the story. The daughter of a prosperous Pittsburgh family, Joan ran off to Washington D.C. when she rejected a suitor urged by her parents. She becomes pregnant by and marries an abusive young man, Ron who dies under the influence in a single-car accident under suspicious circumstances. Her sister-in-law takes custody of the couple's young child. In order to make ends meet, Joan takes a position as a cocktail waitress in a bar called Garden of Roses, where the services of the waitresses sometimes are for sale.
Joan tells the history of her relationship with two men. One of the patrons of the Garden of Roses is Earl White, a wealthy and elderly widower with a severe heart condition. Joan's physical and emotional response to Earl borders on repulsion; but she marries him to secure a future for her son and, of course, for money. The other male character is a young, impulsive Tom Barclay, who is physically agressive and demanding. Joan is strongly attracted to him almost in spite of herself. The tension-filled relationships between Joan and Earl and Tom build through the course of the book.
The book shares a theme common to most of Cain's writing. As her schemes unravel, Joan says to herself: "And then at last I began to realize how terrible a thing it was, the dream that you make come true." The book also shares many plot elements with Cain's famous books. In particular, "The Cocktail Waitress" reminds me of "Mildred Pierce" in that in tells the story of a young, highly sexual, single mother with a strong determination to better her condition in life, with little thought of the cost. Restaurants,food,and alcohol are integral to both books. Both books center upon an enigmatic female character; and, as in the portrayal of Mildred in "Mildred Pierce", Cain shows great insight into Joan's heart and mind in "The Cocktail Waitress".
The strongest scenes in the novel are those which capture Joan's deep disgust at the prospect of a physical relationship with Earl. The descriptions of the life of cocktail waitresses and other employees of bars and establishments also has a strong naturalistic tone. I enjoyed reading Cain's descriptions of the sexual underworld of the Washington, D.C. area in the 1950's at a time well before I knew the city. A contemporary noir writer, George Pelecanos, has taken this part of Washington, D.C. life as his subject.
This novel is not on the level of Cain's best writing. The story tends to wander, and it lacks tension. The dialogue is wordy and too extensive in places rather than pithy and terse. Some of the secondary scenes and characters receive too much attention and detract from the flow of the story. Although Charles Ardai did excellent work in piecing together Cain's various manuscripts (as he describes in an Afterword), there are inconsistencies in the final text and places where the joints creak and show.
It is valuable to have this, the final novel of James Cain, available at last. I have enjoyed reading further in Cain after getting to know his masterworks. Readers of noir and admirers of Cain will be interested in reading "The Cocktail Waitress."
Robin Friedman
RobinR
Jun 19, 2016
Cocktail Waitress
I have not yet read this book but I have read all of James M Cain and like his writing style and content very much. I look forward to reading the Cocktail Waitress and expect to find it typical James M Cain.
