The Vixen

 I was looking forward to reading this book, but  in the end I was a little disappointed.  Though again after the conversation about it with my book discussion group, I felt it was worth the read.

An interesting novel ...but disappointing.  I was hoping for more of a story about the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.  This is a story  of a young man who is trying to establish himself int he world of publishing.  He is very naive and is easily taken advantage of in the hard boiled world of publishing at a time when there were still three martini lunches, men dominated the business and it was an all boys network.  

Simon the narrator of this book and the new man at the publishing company that wants to publish a bodice ripper about Ethel Rosenberg, has to figure out whether to stand up for his beliefs or follow the  direction of his boss and defile the good name of Ethel Rosenberg.  

Francine Prose grew up knowing that her mother went to  high school with Ethel Rosenberg, so her protagonist, Simon has a similar connection to the Rosenbergs.  

He is haunted for the entire novel by Ethel's last words, sent to her lawyer, " Ethel said in her letter, you will see that our name will be kept bright and unsullied by lies. "

So when Simon is offered a job  at a publishing company he jumps at the job.  Then he is asked to copyedit a novel loosely about Ethel that sullies her name.  Simon is torn between keeping his job  and acting like the men he meets on the job or being loyal to what he images his mother would want and also to Ethel.

This is a coming of age story. Simon is a learning how the world works and how women can use their sexuality to take advantage of you .  How men use power to get what they want.  

All in all an interesting novel but not a favorite of mine.  Much of  the plot seems very far fetched and a bit unrealistic.