Pubis Angelical

Puig, author of Kiss of the Spider Woman, has produced a novel of feminine reverie and feminist polemic. At its center is a dialogue between two womenone possibly dying, the other attending herthat is grounded in the musings of women in love, serving others, revengeful and disillusioned. These two women hold opposing political positions and express their pain in both an emotional texture and a feminist context. Around this core dialogue, Puig places, in turn, a dream, a spy-fable and science fiction sequences that suggest high literary ambitions but do not arouse the reader's curiosity. These devices seem to exist purely as style, portending great insights but revealing very little. All in all, this is a curious and disappointing exercise. 30,000 first printing; major ad/promo. (January)