‘POSSESSIONS’ BY JUDITH MICHAEL

OK, first things first: you must know by now that author Judith Michael is actually a pen name for a married couple who have written 11 best-sellers so far. Yep, they are Judith Barnard and Michael Fain. I have no idea of their whereabouts except for the fact that Miss Barnard has written other efforts, most recently CROOKED BRANCHES ON THE FAMILY TREE published by Mill City Press in 2015. Are they still together? Who knows? But if they ever are I doubt that they’ll produce a 12th effort. It’s been too much of a long time for it to happen. And besides, readers nowadays are much more fickle. They probably don’t even remember that, along with the other two Judiths, Krantz and Gould, Judith Michael was hot stuff in the ‘80s and beyond, just before the new Millennium. 

I too wanted to embark on the Judith Michael bandwagon, especially after seeing the sensational miniseries DECEPTIONS on NBC starring Stefanie Powers in 1985. I remember getting a hold of the novel on which it is based not long after and attempting to read it. I say attempting because it took me a few tries before finally finishing it. The reason mostly was the deception (pun intended) I felt that it didn't read like a Jackie Collins novel. It was too vanilla, in my opinion, too Harlequin-like. I had to adjust my expectations to enjoy it, and I did, to a certain degree. 

The same could be said regarding her second novel POSSESSIONS (1982, Pocket) which I finished a couple of days ago. Clearly Judith Michael is scarcely my cup of tea. The whole premise of a young mother of two who gets dumped by her indebted husband then turns her life around by making a name for herself in the jewelry business and gets involved with another member (two, actually) of her husband’s family is OK in itself but compared to other trashy novels this one is in general as unexciting and as predictable as, well, a Harlequin romance novel.  

Don’t get me wrong, all the elements are there: a likeable heroine, a debonair hero, luscious settings and a jet-setting lifestyle worthy of any glitzy novel, but the overall delivery just doesn’t cut it as it should. Barely do you end up getting involved with these characters or the cookie-cutter plot. And that’s where it pains me, for Judith Michael is a solid storyteller. Her narrative is strong without being too descriptive, and the flow of the story does do justice to the overall theme (independence). But as a whole, POSSESSIONS possesses (pun intended again) nothing more than an unsophisticated streak which in the end hurts the story. 

But since it’s a ‘80s book–set mostly in San Francisco—and we all know how soapy those years can be, we can easily forgive Miss Michael for having executed a subpar effort or, more importantly, for having included a sole gay San Franciscan character who is a billboard of clichés. For despite this being less than stellar it is still far better written than some other fluffy efforts published during that same time. I won’t name them or reveal the publishing houses from which they mostly come from but I will say this: it takes a lot of dedication and drive to write a great ‘80s novel. Take it from me, an expert in the genre. I have to go through a lot of junk before finding something fruitful, and I’m sorry to say that POSSESSIONS, despite all of its evident efforts to please places itself in the former category.

 

 

Until next post—Martin 

UK PB Edition

 

‘DECEPTIONS’ BY JUDITH MICHAEL

I wish I could say I had a ball with Judith Michael’s first novel DECEPTIONS (1982, Pocket) but it ended up being just an OK experience and here’s why. Remember when I first saw the adapted miniseries on NBC back in the day, when network television actually took the time to produce glittery nighttime melodramas such as this one? No? Well, I talked about it here. LACE, SCRUPLES, HOLLYWOOD WIVES, all were adapted with big fanfares and big success. In the case of DECEPTIONS, however, it turned out being just a modest hit, but I digress. What I’m trying to say here is that problems of the rich ruled television in the ‘80s, and I was lucky enough to have seen my share of them. So it comes as no surprise that after salivating over the two-parter that was DECEPTIONS I needed to read the novel ASAP. Yes, I was that kind of a geeky gay. In fact, I still am. Duh! 

So one morning I took my sweet little ass to Coles bookstore and searched for the novel. I found it fast enough. It had the tie-in cover featuring star Stefanie Powers. Suffice to say, I was thrilled. Finally I was going to be able to get into the nitty-gritty of the two twins switching lives for a week. I mean, seeing it playing out on TV is more than fine but getting into the psyche of these characters in a 500 + page narrative is a lot better in my opinion. But surprise, surprise, it took me more than 10 years to read the thing. No, let me rephrase that. What I actually mean is that I waited more than 10 years to pick it up and read it. People who know me on this blog will probably recognize this pattern of mine, the tendency to give up on a read in favor of a juicier one, and at the time it was mostly Jackie Collins’ backlist. 

Cut to the end of the ‘90s and what do you know, I finally read that DECEPTIONS I so eagerly wanted. I come out of it satisfied but not wowed—and I never pick up a Judith Michael novel again, until this year when I decided to re-read it before embarking on its sequel A TANGLED WEB. Though I do think DECEPTIONS is still a fine specimen I am not again that keen over it, mostly because for the most part the novel turned out being more of a Harlequin romance-like story than anything else. There are a lot of ‘My love...’s thrown in in between fine narrative. And I feel that the story drags on a bit, mostly when the focus is on rich Sabrina becoming Stephanie the housewife. Not enough time is spent on the other sis, plain Stephanie now a UK jet setter, which is what I really wanted the book to delve into. And before you know it, kaboom! her life is taken away by the explosion of a yacht. So of course the focus is back on Sabrina. What a girl to do, right? Especially now that she’s tempted to stick with her new life and hunky professor hubby, who, by the way, still has no idea she isn’t really who she says she is despite having boned her more than once. Pretty farfetched, if you ask me. But hey, it's a silly little book anyway. Yet I still wish the novel could have been better handled overall. I am in no hurry to read the sequel now. Oh I’ll get there, eventually. I just hope it’ll deliver the goods as it should, as all books should.

Until next post—Martin 

UK PB edition