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The Constant Sinner
A story of the life and adventures of a femme fatale set during the Roaring Twenties. Original title: Babe Gordon.
- GenresFiction
313 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1930
6 people are currently reading
258 people want to read
About the author
Mae West
34听books1,241听followersMae West (August 17, 1893 鈥� November 22, 1980) was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol.
Famous for her bawdy double entendres, West made a name for herself in vaudeville and on the stage in New York before moving to Hollywood to become a comedian, actress and writer in the motion picture industry.
One of the most controversial stars of her day, West encountered many problems including censorship.
When her cinematic career ended, she continued to perform on stage, in Las Vegas, in the United Kingdom, on radio and television, and recorded rock and roll albums.
Famous for her bawdy double entendres, West made a name for herself in vaudeville and on the stage in New York before moving to Hollywood to become a comedian, actress and writer in the motion picture industry.
One of the most controversial stars of her day, West encountered many problems including censorship.
When her cinematic career ended, she continued to perform on stage, in Las Vegas, in the United Kingdom, on radio and television, and recorded rock and roll albums.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 17, 2018
I didn鈥檛 expect to like the book as much as I did. It started off slow but picked up the pace rather quickly. The main character Babe reminds me a lot of Scarlet O鈥橦ara, in that she鈥檚 a true opportunist, and looking out to satisfy her own pleasures, no matter who she has to betray in order to do so. No matter what happened, this woman always landed on her feet and quickly was on to the next big thing when her current situation got stale. This book is almost a hundred years old, but the material was fresh, and it was a fun read. I鈥檓 so surprised by how entertaining her adventures were, although I was horrified too. If you love an anti-hero, she鈥檚 it. This is a terrible terrible woman that in spite of myself, I couldn鈥檛 help but admire.
August 28, 2017
This is a very period piece. If you love the roaring twenties but want a different perspective than the glamour of The Great Gatsby, then as long as you keep in mind that much of this book is written in the vernacular and colloquialisms of the day then this should prove a slightly informative read.
My initial view of this was 1930 smut. When I read I found Miss West to be dealing more in the psychology of the "new woman". This philosophy boils down to, if a man can have as many partners as he wants, then shouldn't a woman have the same right. I don't personally agree with that philosophy for either party, but the book sets about to design this femme fatale in the most glorious of lights.
It is slow, poorly written or at best written to the common man of 1930 when illiteracy was as high as 16% in some sections of America. It is not Shakespeare and although it has gone through five editions, these seem to be very early editions and have not stood the test of time. The book is rare in the sense that copies are scarce, but there is no real push for this book as a classic. If anything it could be called a novelty and no better.
My initial view of this was 1930 smut. When I read I found Miss West to be dealing more in the psychology of the "new woman". This philosophy boils down to, if a man can have as many partners as he wants, then shouldn't a woman have the same right. I don't personally agree with that philosophy for either party, but the book sets about to design this femme fatale in the most glorious of lights.
It is slow, poorly written or at best written to the common man of 1930 when illiteracy was as high as 16% in some sections of America. It is not Shakespeare and although it has gone through five editions, these seem to be very early editions and have not stood the test of time. The book is rare in the sense that copies are scarce, but there is no real push for this book as a classic. If anything it could be called a novelty and no better.
June 5, 2016
Fully aware that I'm probably the only person on 欧宝娱乐 that didn't enjoy this. I did not find the characters or writing engaging in the least, and it was such a slow starter that I soon lost interest.
September 24, 2024
It was an interesting pulp novel, filled with colorful characters from the 1930s. Or how a white audience would imagine slumming up in Harlem? There are a lot of 'dese', 'dats', 'dose' and words ending in apostrophes as West tries to convey African American vernacular. On the one hand, it's great to show an integrated world where black people and white people talk to each other like they consider each other to be real people, even when antagonistic. However, stereotypes abound and it can be rather lopsided in how West depicts people. But then again, West herself played to (and with) stereotypes, often very outdated (Gay Nineties), so it's hard to judge her. This is satire, after all. I guess it depends on what you're in the mood for. I can say this story is wild enough that it could not have been made into a film, even in the Pre-Code era, with the amount of black and white people co-mingling. I also loved the subplot about selling drugs at the makeup counter of the Five and Dime. I believe she wrote this when she was in a career slump, the Production Code putting an end to the kind of films that made her a movie star, and unable to mount a Broadway hit due to social conservatism following the end of Prohibition.
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January 30, 2025This book is full of racist language and racist stereotypes. A really hard read.
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