MOLLIE MAKE-BELIEVE

by Alice Bach ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 17, 1974

Grandmother's last illness causes Mollie's relatives to gather in the New York apartment of her adored grandfather Reed, and provides the occasion for this family-dominated high school graduate (she still wears linen dresses and nice black shoes from Saks) to make a tentative gesture of independence by dating a boy she meets in Central Park. Mollie's mini-rebellion is motivated by the discovery that her best friend Hilary has slept with a boyfriend, but when Mollie finds herself attracted to Jaimie she can find little to talk about but family and then, back home, she mystifies her parents by repeating Jaimie's philosophy of creativity almost verbatim. Mollie's immaturity -- and the feelings of inferiority and self-righteousness it engenders by turns -- is rendered with painful accuracy; however, her character is too thin to inspire much empathy. If Mollie's relationships (or lack of them) outside the family circle had been better established, she would seem far less freakish and frankly, less tedious, than she soon becomes here.

Pub Date: April 17, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1974

Categories: FICTION