LAST WORDS

by Alex Karmel ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1968

Darling"" First word and a real giveaway for the confessional obsequies to follow as in glutinous prose Alan Stein, thirtyish, a lawyer, writes the story of his life in letter form; To the girl he had loved who had driven into a tree (without a green hat). Alan has recently had a small skin cancer removed which inevitably reminds him of his father's death from a more fatal type. In fact death is in constant attendance here (his grandmother's, for example, in the long set family pieces dealing with his childhood, his bar mitzvah, etc., etc.) which are oppressively unoriginal. So are his earlier sexual field trips all concluded with his marriage to one unloved Susan and two relatively unloved children and the metastasis of his disease. One of the troubles is that the hero-victim not only attracts little interest but also no real liking; another that all this torporous experience is taped-typed with such willful self-indulgence; enfin, so many Last Words?

Pub Date: May 1, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1968

Categories: FICTION