Latest news with #housewife
New York Times
06-07-2025
- General
- New York Times
A Brilliant Writer Whose Books Offer Traps, Not Escapes
Roving Eye is the Book Review's essay series on international writers of the past whose works warrant a fresh look, often in light of reissued, updated or newly translated editions of their books. We're used to stories in which buried secrets are forced to the surface, prompting some kind of reckoning — and in that reckoning's wake, transformation. KILLING STELLA (New Directions, 87 pp., paperback, $14.95), a newly translated 1958 novel by the Austrian writer Marlen Haushofer, charts an opposite trajectory. This is a book that gets more, not less, mysterious as it goes. As for transformation, forget it. Even when a few shards of truth wiggle their way aboveground, they change nothing. Everything stays obscured by a dense fog of repression. It's the air the characters breathe, even when they think they're spitting it out. This is true most of all for the main character and narrator, an Austrian housewife and mother. Left home alone for two days, she's writing down her account of some recent disturbing events. An old friend's teenage daughter, Stella, came to live with the narrator's family some months earlier; now Stella is dead. It looked like an accident; the narrator is sure it wasn't. Terrible things have happened — some recently, some further back — but they can't be processed or even acknowledged. Doing so, we sense, would rip the fabric of postwar, middle-class normalcy, a condition that makes the narrator miserable, but that she is nonetheless committed to preserving at all costs. For American readers already familiar with Haushofer's work, this mood of jittery claustrophobia might seem, at first, like a departure. Her reputation here rests almost entirely on 'The Wall,' a cult classic first released in 1963 and reissued two years ago. (Both novels were translated into English by Shaun Whiteside.) 'The Wall' tells the story of an Austrian widow confined to a rural valley by the overnight arrival of a mysterious force field. As far as she knows, everyone else on Earth is dead. Much of the novel is focused on the ins and outs of this woman's quest for survival, including her interactions with the land, animals and her own body. Her situation gives the writing an earthy immediacy. Repression appears mostly in the rearview mirror, a feature of the dissatisfying life she has been severed from. But in 'Killing Stella,' no fantastical force fields come down to cleave the narrator from her stifling circumstances. All she gets are her two days of solitude. By writing down the story of Stella's time with her family, she clearly hopes to stop thinking about it. 'I have to forget her if I want to resume my peaceful life,' she writes. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Free Malaysia Today
24-06-2025
- Free Malaysia Today
Married couple claims trial to abusing daughter
A mechanic and housewife have been charged with abusing their 10-year-old daughter last week, resulting in physical injuries. (Freepik pic) KANGAR : A married couple pleaded not guilty in the sessions court here today to a charge of abusing their 10-year-old daughter last week, resulting in physical injuries to the child. The man, a mechanic, and his wife, a homemaker, both aged 37, claimed trial after the charge was read before judge Sharifah Norazlita Syed Salim Idid. The husband and wife, as individuals having custody of the child, were accused of committing the offence against the girl at a house in Taman Desa Saujana, Arau, at around 12.15pm on June 18. They were charged under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which is punishable by a maximum jail term of 20 years, a fine of up to RM50,000, or both, upon conviction. The court allowed their release on bail of RM20,000 each with the additional conditions that they report to the nearest police station every month and are prohibited from approaching or disturbing the victim until the case concludes. The court fixed July 17 for mention. Deputy public prosecutor Nabilah Ahmad Poad prosecuted while the couple was represented by lawyer S Devendran.
Malay Mail
12-06-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
Penang housewife loses over RM500,000 in face-to-face investment scam spanning two years
GEORGE TOWN, June 12 — A housewife lost RM521,450 after falling victim to a fraudulent investment scheme carried out face-to-face in Seberang Perai Utara (SPU), near here, recently. Penang police chief Datuk Hamzah Ahmad said the Commercial Crime Investigation Division from the SPU Police Headquarters received a report from the 57-year-old woman yesterday, with investigations underway. 'Based on investigations, the victim was introduced by her neighbour to the scheme, which promised high returns in a short period in 2022, before introducing the victim to another woman who posed as a marketing officer,' he said in a statement yesterday, adding that the woman explained to the victim how the investment worked. He said the victim then joined the investment and made 51 cash transactions into five different bank accounts from March 4, 2022, to January 22, 2024, totaling RM521,450, before realizing she had been scammed after the suspect kept giving excuses whenever she wanted to withdraw her profits. Hamzah said some of the excuses given were that the investments had not reached maturity dates and that there was no need to worry because her capital was safely stored in Bank Negara. He said the victim was also instructed to make various additional payments, including those to Bank Negara and legal fees, to facilitate the recovery of her capital and profits. 'Investigations are ongoing, including tracing those involved in the scam, and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating,' he added. — Bernama
Free Malaysia Today
21-05-2025
- Free Malaysia Today
Cops nab housewife for staging robbery to steal mother-in-law's jewellery
The female suspect and her five male accomplices were arrested in separate raids on May 15. (Freepik pic) PETALING JAYA : Police have arrested a housewife after suspecting that she was the mastermind behind a robbery at a home in Felda Chini Timur, Pahang, in which she had claimed to be a victim. Pekan police chief Zaidi Mat Zin said the 27-year-old woman lodged a report on March 20, claiming she had been robbed by masked men armed with knives while she was at her mother-in-law's house. Zaidi said the intruders made off with her mother-in-law's jewellery worth RM12,000, Sinar Harian reported. 'She claimed she was robbed by four masked men. 'However, further investigations found that she had actually conspired with her accomplices to stage the robbery and steal the jewellery belonging to her mother-in-law,' he said in a statement. Zaidi said the woman used the proceeds from the sale of the jewellery to pay off her accomplices and settle her debts with loan sharks. She and five male accomplices, aged between 27 and 36, were arrested in separate raids on May 15. Four of the suspects tested positive for methamphetamine, and all had previous convictions for criminal offences, including for robbery, drug usage and housebreaking. 'Police also seized three mobile phones, a necklace, a bracelet, clothes, a knife, bank cards and pawn shop documents,' he added. All the suspects have been remanded until May 23.
Washington Post
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Many women ‘just don't want to' have kids. These books don't blame them.
When the writer Shirley Jackson went to the hospital to give birth to her youngest son in 1951, a clerk at the front desk asked for her personal information. 'Age?' the clerk chirped. 'Sex? Occupation?' 'Writer,' Jackson replied. 'Housewife,' the clerk countered. 'Writer,' Jackson insisted. 'I'll just put down housewife,' the woman told her. That Jackson's best fiction is about the debasements of domesticity is a cruel irony, one the dismissive hospital clerk no doubt failed to appreciate.
