KUMQUAT MAY, I'LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

by Cynthia D. Grant ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1986

Kumquat is a small town populated by amiable eccentrics including Livvy Lee, 15 and on her own since her grandmother died, and her father of alcoholism and ""acute procrastination""; her mother went out two years ago and since then has sent one postcard from Disneyland. Livvy (Olivia) is content to be on her own, confiding only in best friend Rosella, as the alternative is to live with her terminally self-righteous Uncle Sargeant. With the help of her grandmother's legacy, ingenuity, and her neighbors, she does well until Raymond comes to town. Handsome, attentive and sensitive, he chooses her to listen to his stories about a CIA father, a tragic love affair and his past career in commercials. His attentions sharpen her growing loneliness, but dull her previous ability to see through pretensions. Raymond spins grand plans of selling her house and running away to New York City; when she pulls back, Raymond reports her to the authorities. Told with an attractive, deadpan wit, the melodramatic plot reaches its apogee during the confrontation between Livvy and the town authorities, when her ditsy mother wanders in. Things wind down rather quickly after that: Raymond finds another victim; Rosella and Livvy make up; and Livvy gets to know her mother before she wanders off again. Although Livvy and her mother are well drawn, most of the rest of her friends and relatives are not, and the story collapses under its own weight. Unfortunate, because as long as it holds up, however unsteadily, it's pretty funny.

Pub Date: April 1, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 206

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION