Jeanne Elaine Northrop

Deconstructing Tara: a Novel Jeanne Elaine Northrop

Deconstructing Tara is the story of a girl who apparently has everything but who is unable to negotiate the perils of her times. She becomes a woman during the mid-1970s, but she was raised in a much less frenzied environment, one in which time seemed to stand still. Sex left the bedroom and the bordello in the '70s and took to the streets, disco dance floors, front pages, movies, and runways. Women were encouraged to display themselves as sexually active and receptive as part of their "liberation" For many this was in fact, liberating. For others like Tara, it was confusing and upsetting. For one who had grown up thinking love and sex were equivalent, the disintegration of sexual morality presented unimagined hazards. Like Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina, in her heart Tara believes that romantic love is a woman's ultimate achievement, but she is torn because of her desire to be a business success, and her associates do not grasp the struggle occurring behind her finely crafted exterior.