THE WEEDKILLER'S DAUGHTER

by Harriette Simpson Arnow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 5, 1969

The only place for real truth was with her sand castles at the bottom of the sea."" The real truths are often embedded in the dream-and-memory world into which Susan Schnitzer slips away, particularly to escape the ""House of Usher"" with plastic flowers, in which she lives. With a mother and frilly-aproned maids and a father rabidly exterminating all the weeds which might spoil the physical and social landscape of Detroit's Eden Hills (Negroes, Communists, et al.). However Susan (as one might expect of Mrs. Arnow and her flowering Cumberland) loves all the untrammeled outdoor world; flinches at her father's exclusion of the town boys and girls; retreats to the memories of her first years with a grandmother who had been pilloried as a ""Commie Red,"" a grandfather who died with courage, the assault on her own young person, and, only latterly revealed, her running away from her father right through two windows. By the close however-Susan has managed to preserve her own identity and idealism (against the still further incursion of a psychologist doing a ""depth-evaluation""). But before there have been-some implausible-incidents--primarily her hiding of a young man wanted in a bank robbery in an attic. Then there are other suspect devices such as her own ""IBM"" which .she switches on and off. And as for Susan-herself--is she a really real youngster however equipped with today's phrases, or an older woman's wishful and parlous conception of a young girl? Susan's acceptance and the book's are one and the same (however readymade the young adult designation) in what is essentially a modern morality tale whose gentle message for a violent time may be assuasive however smudged with sentiment.

Pub Date: Jan. 5, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1969

Categories: FICTION