Looking for Mr. Goodbar (novel)
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_1st_edition_cover.jpg) First edition | |
| Author | Judith Rossner |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | 1975 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Cloth; Paper) |
| Pages | 284 (Cloth) |
Looking for Mr. Goodbar is a novel by American writer Judith Rossner. Published in 1975, the book—a "stunning psychological study of a woman's passive complicity in her own death"[1]—won critical acclaim and was a #1 New York Times best seller.
Theresa "Terry" Dunn, a young woman living in New York City, leads a double life: by day she is a devoted schoolteacher, but by night she cruises singles bars. Eventually, just as she is trying to make a new start, Terry is murdered by a young drifter who she has just met and invited home.
Prior to these events, which the book details, Theresa is a child suffering from ugly-duckling syndrome, followed by an ordeal as an adult in college in which she is enticed into entering a committed relationship with a married man who turns out to be using her as a companion. The relationship ends, and Theresa then seeks out a series of sexual encounters that are both fleeting and pathological.
Background
By 1973, having published three novels,[note 1] Judith Rossner was a writer of "impeccable literary credentials."[2] Invited by Nora Ephron to contribute to a special women's issue of Esquire magazine, Rossner wrote an article about a real-life murder that had sparked her interest, that of schoolteacher Roseann Quinn, who had been brutally slain in January 1973 by a man that she had purportedly picked up in a singles bar. In the end, Esquire, fearing legal ramifications, decided not to publish the article, so Rossner decided to write a novel instead.[3]
Reception
Looking for Mr. Goodbar was published by Simon & Schuster on June 2, 1975, to positive reviews. Carol Eisen Rinzler, in The New York Times, said the book was "a complex and chilling portrait of a woman's descent into hell... full of insight and intelligence and illumination."[2] Time magazine wrote, "it is a rare kind of book: both a compelling 'page turner' and a superior roman à clef."[4] Newsweek found the book to be a "hard, fast, frightening read."[5]
Looking for Mr. Goodbar was also a commercial blockbuster: on June 22, 1975, it entered The New York Times Best Seller List, and would remain there for 36 weeks, three of those weeks at #1.[1] It sold over four million copies, becoming the fourth highest-selling novel of the year.[6]