LESLIE

by Zoa Sherburne ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 1972

The dimensions of the generation gap never become more obvious than when authors of teenage romances attempt to chronicle the doings of turned on contemporary kids. Zoa Sherburne, whose Too Bad About the Haines Girl legitimized the topic of accidental pregnancy back in 1967, now turns to the problem of drugs and the result is a real pot boiler. Leslie's very first joint involves her as an accessory to a fatal hit-and-run accident and eventually lands her in the hospital when the car's driver Chip (whose ""straggly hair and beard"" marked him as an undesirable from the start) slips LSD in her coffee to keep her from going to the police. Though Leslie's mom is a cardboard model of the well-meaning, ineffectual parent, the grownups' superior wisdom is never in doubt -- Tom, mother's new boyfriend, arrives on the scene just in time to provide the guidance of a benevolent father, and the kindly juvenile court judge lets Leslie off with a warning -- after all, she's basically a good girl. Worse than the heavy dose of moralizing warnings (including a verbatim account of a policeman's speech to a school assembly) is the total lack of feeling for youthful lifestyles (""he swayed with the rhythm, snapping his fingers and groaning in all the appropriate places""). Sherburne fails to demonstrate even minimal empathy with the age group she is writing about, and as a result, Leslie's decision to come clean has less impact than a Sunday school sermon.

Pub Date: Oct. 4, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1972

Categories: FICTION