WASTED GENIUS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21698, 13 January 1934, Page 9 (Supplement)

WASTED GENIUS

VIVID BUT SORDID STORY It is a bitter commentary on modern modes and manners that Ethel M. Delafield should have given the title " Gay Life " to so sordid a story as that of the adventurings of a handful of trippers brought together during a few weeks' holiday at the Hotel d'Azur, on the shores of the Mediterranean. The story is one of brazen impudence and intrigue, that ends on an inevitable note of tragedy—the pace is too hot, and a young life is sacrificed because of the -sudden and intolerable shattering of every illusion. Two completely unmoral women, one young and strikingly beautiful, one ageing and clutching at the remains of beauty, strive for the favours of an equally unscrupulous man. Both win—and therein lies the horrible climax of weeks of jealous rivalry. But in strong relief, the author gives a sketch of another woman of entirely different type, one whose deep self-respect saves her from a false step when to take it would have been very easy. The book is well written, and gives some very interesting glimpses of the lovely country of the Mediterranean, also of the hectic lure of Monte Carlo for the world's gamblers. There is no plot—the story is simply that of a rich and sensual woman who is holiday making with her son and his tutor, a couple of London adventurers, a professional man and his secretary, a woman writer, and a good English family, who are the only really sound people in the book. The tutor is the dominating character—he wins a small fortune at gambling, and uses it to betray his mistress, and to buy the lovely, worthless wife of the equally-worthless Londoner. A story well and vividly told, but not worth the telling.

—" Gay Life," by Ethel M. Delafield (McMillan.)