Divine Damages by Georgia Varjas

               Divine Damages by Georgia Varjas.

" The air tortured her skin. She felt daggers attack her and pierce her flesh but she resisted. ' I know what you did, I saw you. Now, I am your tormentor.' "

This is an interesting selection of 10 modern, tongue-in-cheek stories of feminism taken to an absurd extreme using male and female caricatures.

In Stalking Patty we are looking at revenge and female empowerment. Patty is approaching middle-age and we discover how gullible she seemed to be at 17 years of age, discovering boys and sex for the first time. What ensued inevitably, was an unplanned pregnancy followed by a tragic miscarriage. It was meant to be a simple D&C to clean her out but she had been left infertile and with permanent psychological damage.

Whilst under the anaesthetic she remembered the nurses laughing at her and the surgeon with a huge carving knife in his hand. Consequently, she was doped with medication for the next decade when her self-esteem had reached rock-bottom and she was filled with despair. In time a new relationship with Brian petered out when she was unable to conceive leaving her feeling angry, guilty, depressed and of course, abandoned. She blamed Dr Death for her failed relationship and unhappiness.

In time life improved. Patty weaned herself off the medication, got a job and put on weight. Things started to look up until that fateful day at the British Museum. It was a chance encounter, twenty years later: "This was the man who had crippled me, spoilt all my chances of happiness and fertility. Winthrop had permanently crucified it."

How sweet is revenge? She wanted to hound him, torment him. Exploitation and ultimately ruin were her objectives. She adopted the role of the femme fatale. "I got him and I damaged him and the satisfaction was all mine."

But did she succeed in regaining some personal power and inner strength? Was revenge really so empowering for Patty? Perhaps. You decide….

Sweet Claudine shows a woman completely detached from her marriage and husband. She is self-sufficient and happy to bake and promote her business. She takes relish in the sun sparkling over the sugary coatings of her pastries but lacks the warmth or passion to engage in a romantic or sensual relationship with Didier, her husband.

Didier marries for self-advancement wanting an indolent lifestyle. He is self-centred and despicable. Whilst courting he was initially full of delight and charm but we can guess it was all an act. Over time he became critical and insulting at work and he soon gained a reputation of being mean and arrogant. Inevitably, he became bored with his dead-end job and his wife, Claudine.

As a sharp contrast she became successful and popular. People praised her business prowess. This just fuelled his resentment and frustration. He demeaned her business as a silly hobby. "As she became more successful and renowned, Didier became more begrudging and envious." His mind is pre-occupied over his future-a luxurious life in the south of France-once he has sold her house, her delivery van and her business. But single not married or tied down. Does he manage it? There is a twist to the finale and Varjas introduces a touch of the supernatural and a dramatic climax with the explosion of a car. For one of them there is freedom; the other is doomed. But even that's not the full story!

And for a dose of sexual frustration there's Righteous Val who seems to have lost her way and behaves in the most crude and unrighteous manner. At 49 years of age we can initially sympathise with her plight-abandoned by a Lothario of a husband who shacks up with a 20 years old babe from Essex- frumpy, fat and altogether, shabby. You can see why the husband absconded can't you? But he does leave her with a generous alimony and a lovely house.

"How does a woman get what she wants? Wasn't I kind and considerate? Hadn't I given him all the comforts he needed?"

Perhaps it's just the injustice of being "dumped" or boredom that motivates her into cleaning up the streets and preventing physical abuse to women or children. A crusader. She became serious over this crusade, armed with a small hammer, a pair of pliers, a Phillipps screwdriver, sharp kitchen scissors and masking tape.

Seriously, she was on the warpath confronting drunks and ugly schoolboys believing they would give the least resistance. She saw herself as a bit of a saviour without the religious connotation-a version of Mother Theresa or a Batman without the ridiculous costume of course.

And then it went a bit pear-shaped for Righteous Val. It seems that she gets easily turned on by attractive, foreign males called Carlos. Why are the pretty ones always called Carlos? She is so turned on that she neglects her original clean-up act. Enough is enough. Let's have some fun. So how does she tackle her "cream cake in the bathtub variety" with rusty methods of seduction? Does she have to knock him over the head to entice him into her lair or boudoir? What was so profoundly unfair? And why does Varjas end the tale with a mischievous hint (or is it a moral?) about using a "plentiful supply of Viagra?" It sounds kinky to me.

Publisher: Wordplay.   ISBN: 978-1482796-858

SEVEN DAYS OF HER LIFE by GEORGIA VARJAS.

On Saturday, white gown flowing, rosy cheeks she entered the house.

Sunday their bodies never separated.

Monday she wore her apron and rubber gloves.

Tuesday her hair was cut short.

Wednesday she wore a headscarf to cover a black eye.

Thursday, with red hands and blue legs she hung out the washing.

Friday she went into hospital with internal wounds.

Saturday he went into the garden with his new bride.

Taken from Words on the Wild Side by Georgia Varjas.

COPYRIGHT 2014. Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this article review is reproduced.