Looking for Mr. Goodbar to these events, which the book details, Theresa is a child suffering from ugly duckling syndrome, followed by an ordeal as an adult in college in which she is engaged in a committed relationship with a married man who is using her as a companion. The relationship ends, and Theresa experiences a bevy of sexual encounters that are fleeting and pathological. By 1973, having published three novels, Judith Rossner was a writer of "impeccable literary credentials." Invited by Nora Ephron to contribute to a special women's issue of "Esquire" magazine, Rossner wrote an article about a real-life murder that had
Looking for Mr. Goodbar a rare kind of book: both a compelling 'page turner' and a superior roman à clef." "Newsweek" found the book to be a "hard, fast, frightening read." "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" was also a commercial blockbuster: on June 22, 1975, it entered the "New York Times" best seller list, and would remain there for 36 weeks, three of those weeks at #1. It sold over four million copies, becoming the fourth highest-selling novel of the year. Paramount Pictures purchased film rights to the novel for $250,000. The film, written and directed by Richard Brooks, was released in 1977, and starred