A Wickedy Witty Social Comedy
Clare Booth Luce's, The Women is a wickedly venomous comedy about 1930s Manhattan socialites who, for pure sport, urge each other into self-destruction. Having no other occupation or purpose, the women manipulate each other to create gossip-column fodder for their own entertainment. "The Women" contains razor-sharp dialogue and social commentary particular to its time, but its themes -- marriage and divorce, socio-economic class, female friendship, standards of beauty and the role of women in society -- remain relevant today. ("Real Housewives", anyone?)