THE LITTLE STOCKADE

by Natalie Anderson Scott ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 11, 1953

Natalie Scott has attempted to do for the prostitute what she did for the alcoholic in The Story of Mrs. Murphy, but -- for this reader at any rate- her characters never come alive; one never feels carried away with conviction of the reality of the emotional strangulation she describes. Her story has an eerie and horrifying fascination -- something like the forbidden tales of white slavery of one's early youth. One should feel some vestige of sympathy for Marie, whose love for Eddie, held at starvation point, makes her yield to his heartless exploitation. But Marie to the end is a lay figure. Eddie, a detestable small -time pimp, aiming beyond his reach, is so obvious as to be fantastic; one has only scorn for those caught in his net. Stark, a stranger who has cut loose from his conventional roots, is virtually a robot in Eddie's hands --until his final, and equally unconvincing rebellion at the close. One travels in a shadowy world, on the periphery of New York's Hell's Kitchen.

Pub Date: Jan. 11, 1953

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1953

Categories: FICTION