THE RIGHT THING TO DO

by Josephine Gattuso Hendin ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 9, 1988

The semi-emancipation of a young New Yorker, Gina, is the framework for critic Hendin's (Vulnerable People) first novel. The freedom is incomplete because so great is the pull of her Sicilian father, Nino--and so equally manipulative the lover, Alex, whom she flees to--that any real sense of herself is at best partially won, for all the effort. Father Nino is an interesting character--overbearing but not coarse, not the undershirted whassamattayou of the stereotype that this fiction easily could have fallen into. Yet a monster he is, capable of trailing Gina to her lover's house, even of barging in and rousting them from bed. Alex, though, is no bargain, either: distant, too cool, insincere, a gamesman himself. Hendin stuffs the book with every character's point of view, pleating impressions a little too tightly; and there are literary and mythological similes that don't ring quite true here and there. Nor does Gina seem defined; she's more a sponge for everyone else's grander gestures. But Hendin has invested her novel with familial dignity no matter the operatics--and that sashweight-like decorum fills the best pages here with credibility and intelligence.

Pub Date: March 9, 1988

ISBN: 1558612203

Page Count: -

Publisher: Godine

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION