The 1890's underworld exists to give Mae West more diamonds.

2/4 (Indifferent).

I can understand why it's an iconic movie. Her performance is very weird, in a striking way. But if you live in a world where movies are allowed to mention sex, it kind of loses it's reason for existing. ( )

103/2020. This is the 1932 book of the film of the 1928 play, set on the Bowery in New York during the decadent decade of the 1890s. She Done Him Wrong centres around a character called Diamond Lil, apparently based more on the author's experience of life as a music hall entertainer than on eponymous real historical women such as Honora "Diamond Tooth Lil" Ornstein. The writing is pulp fiction style and it's plotted as a crime novel. Think of this story as the femme fatale ancestress of the later Damon Runyon short stories that became Guys n Dolls.

It isn't a surprise that a novel by Mae West, with her many theatre and film script credits, is well written. She easily juggles several subplots, and her feel for character allows her to flesh out urban poor people and career criminals beyond the usual stock stereotypes. I was surprised by the skewering of political corruption, the pro-Chinese anti-racism at a time when the "yellow peril" moral panic was in full cry, the sympathy for drug addicts with blame placed firmly on dealers, and the sex-positive feminism that was ahead of its time by about 60 years. All this in a novel about half the length of most current bestsellers so it packs no padding between the many bangs for your buck. There are plenty of the expected sassy one-liners but also Diamond Lil's penetrating judgments on society and human nature - I don't agree with all of them but as a reader I can fully understand why these characters think the way they do.

(I suppose I should warn for two uses of the n-word, but only as part of the nickname of a successful saloon owner.) ( )

As the foreword by Kathy Lette tells you, Mae West was an accomplished writer and astute businesswoman, so after that it's no surprise to wholeheartedly enjoy this novel.
Diamond Lil is a classic 'tart with a heart' gangster's moll with expensive tastes. When she finds out about her nightclub owner man's secret sex trade sending young, destitute women to South America, and falls in love with a punter everything has to change.
Great lusty fun, full of action and no padding, an easy and fantastic read. ( )