THE NOTEBOOKS OF SUSAN BERRY

by Michael Mott ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4, 1962

This is a diary of a 17-year-old as she travels through Italy, France, Greece, Jordan and Israel with Peter, Raoul, Eric, Jorgen and Simon. Susan Berry, an art student who leaves her dullish life in England, and begins her journey with a Bond Street type, comments on the things she sees and experiences along the way. She is an unmitigated bore, this Susan. And not even a writer. Mr. Mott is trying, no doubt, to show the diarist's growth as she sees poverty, ignorance, cruelty, beauty, etc., as she is raped by four sailors and possibly carries the child of one, but the development is elusive to say the very least. The reader is supposed to be impressed with Susan the innocent, the unsophisticated, the stylistically naive; consequently, there is not even a bon mot to break things up a bit. Miss Berry laments, at one point in the narrative: ""I wish I could sing like Bessie Smith"". ""Amens"" from a congregation of readers!

Pub Date: Feb. 4, 1962

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1962

Categories: FICTION