Cease to Blush

Billie Livingston's fine second novel leads us to consider the nature of our hidden lives and desires -- and to question whether the sky would really fall if we admitted our true needs and ceased to blush.As Cease to Blush opens, Vivian is late to her own mother's funeral. Wearing a tight red suit, Vivian stands out like a pornographer's dream amongst the West Coast intellectuals mourning the death of prominent feminist Josie Callwood. But for all of her bravado, Vivian finds herself emotionally numb and spiraling downward. Vivian and her mother were in constant conflict, with Josie disapproving of her daughter's lifestyle; her inclination to use her body instead of her brain, and her so-called acting career, which has amounted to little more than playing prostitutes and the odd dead body. For her part Vivian has been invested in antagonizing her mother's feminist ideology. As the story opens Vivian's career, as well as her relationship with boyfriend Frank, is...