Book Review: In Praise of Older Women by Stephen Vizinczey

I am not sure I like this book. I mean, it's a bildungsroman focusing on a young man's sexual escapades with older women. There is the main character, Andras Vajda, who is Hungarian, and loves to hook up with older women. He is also a revolutionary, who eventually escapes Hungary during the Revolution, ends up briefly in Italy, and from there continues to Canada. And all this time he hooks up with older women, as if his goal in life is to seduce them and fuck them.

The plot isn't anything more than that. It's actually more like a diary. But it's not necessarily written in a format where there's an entry every day. It's more a collection of essays and recollections of the main character, who apparently eventually became a university professor in the United States, and was recalling his sexual past.

I think the only reason this book is significant is because it was published in 1966, and sexually explicit prose is still shocking. That being said, I have read other sexually revolutionary novels before such as Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, which was published earlier. So I am not quite sure what makes this book special. But aside from the shock value, I find it hard to like this book. I cannot identify with the main character. Sex isn't my primary obsession and drive in life. And the book actually confuses me between being a sex diary and a political narrative. It actually feels like a biography of someone who is confused whether he wants to talk about his sex life or his political affiliations.

I am on the fence on this one. Not sure I would recommend it, but it is a novel read nonetheless. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

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