Mildred Pierce
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Summary
Editor's review
The book's core conflict comes not from external crime and violence but from the heroine Mildred Pierce's almost pathological devotion and love for her daughter Veda. With his signature cool, precise, and utterly unsentimental brush, Cain peels back layer by layer the control, vanity, and self-deception beneath the glow of maternal love. Mildred rises from a desperate housewife, and through astonishing resilience and business acumen builds her own restaurant empire step by step; her striving is itself a fine epic of female economic independence. Yet the motive and endpoint of all her efforts remain the recognition and love of her spoiled, ambitious daughter Veda. This emotional pattern, which places one's entire sense of worth on the return of others (especially one's children), is the root of the tragedy. Cain precisely captures the pulse of social mobility, changing family values, and shifts in women's status in America from the Great Depression to around World War II, giving this family story profound social allegory.
This Shanghai Translation Publishing House edition reads fluently and preserves to the greatest extent the telegraphic concision and sharpness of Cain's original. Reading this book, you will not only be moved by a family's joys and sorrows but also appreciate how Cain, as a literary master, perfectly combines the shell of popular fiction with serious literature's exploration of human nature. It is far more than a "story of maternal love"; it is a cold mirror reflecting the blurred and dangerous line between giving and taking, love and harm.
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers interested in American social life and changing family ethics in the mid-twentieth century
- Deep literature lovers who enjoy dissecting complex human relationships and the darker sides of human nature
- Readers interested in the hardboiled style who want to see another side of Cain beyond his crime novels
- Thinkers concerned with women's fate, the dilemmas of motherhood, and questions of self-worth
Not a good fit for
- Readers seeking light, pleasant, warm, and healing family stories
- Readers expecting the fast-paced narrative of typical hardboiled detective or crime plots
Reading tips
- Compare with screen adaptations (such as the HBO miniseries of the same name) to appreciate the unique psychological depth of the literary text.
- As you read, pay attention to the details of Mildred's business dealings—an important dimension for understanding her character and tragedy.
- Try analyzing the daughter Veda as an independent character rather than merely the object of her mother's emotional projection; this gives a fuller understanding of this contest of family affection.
About the publisher
Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 第一章
- 第二章
- 第三章
- 第四章
- 第五章
- 第六章
- 第七章
- 第八章
- 第九章
- 第十章
- 第十一章
- 第十二章
- 第十三章
- 第十四章
- 第十五章
- 第十六章
- 第十七章
FAQ
Is this book very different in style from James M. Cain's other works?
Is the story only about a mother-daughter relationship? Is there a larger historical background?
How is it rated on Douban? What do readers generally say?
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About the author
James M. Cain is a twentieth-century American novelist known for hard-boiled crime fiction, and his works are often classed under foreign literature and suspense or mystery. Four of his books are held in this collection, with The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity as representative works, alongside Mildred Pierce. Cain's style is stark and restrained, his language spare, and he excels at depicting ordinary people driven by desire, chance and fate toward crime and ruin, with tight plots and an understated moral sense. Several of his novels were adapted into films, and his fiction has influenced the narrative and atmosphere of film noir. Public information about his life, nationality and dates of birth and death is limited, so no speculation is offered here.
