“Unveiling Vulnerability: Discover the Hidden Layers of Feminism in Marianna Marlowe’s Captivating Memoir”
Being raised by a Peruvian mother in California, with the standards of beauty of her Peruvian family, Marianne is shocked when she marries and moves with her husband to Seattle. One of her husband’s fellow medical residents looks her up and down and decides she looks “slutty.” When he, and his wife, try to apologize, Marianne submerges anger and outrage in order to make peace, as a woman is taught to do.
As Marlowe gets older and reflects back on her life, she sees how her cultures have shaped her and her Peruvian family, and reflects on the ironies in life. Her mother’s sister was always the beautiful one. Yet, living in what Marlowe describes as the epicenter of plastic surgery, she ages naturally, with no Botox or facelifts. Her mother, although good looking, was not the striking beauty. On a visit to Peru, her mother had a facelift, liposuction, and tummy tuck. Marlowe and her sister hardly recognized their mother at the airport. She reflects on the culture that asks women to loath the feminine when its not up to the patriarchal standards of the male gaze.
