With a first novel (False Entry) and a first collection of short stories, this writer received a good deal of...

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TEXTURES OF LIFE

With a first novel (False Entry) and a first collection of short stories, this writer received a good deal of critical-coterie admiration. Hers is, however, rather stylised and sequestered talent, directed at the subtleties and inconstancies of human interchange. This novel is certainly less complex than the first in what it has to say about the incomplete, transient and precarious relationships which exist between parents and children. The book opens with the marriage of David Pagani and Elizabeth; it closes at the death of David's father- who for years has defied a bad heart in order to bring his son to maturity and independence. He is in contrast to Elizabeth's worldly mother who has only succeeded in alienating her daughter and after the wedding devotes her time to Pagani pere. The young couple disengage themselves, take a room in a left ""their center... their way"", have a child and learn to agonize over it, and finally discover something about living- loving- letting go... Many readers will find it static, close, overbred, for Textures is a tissue of private intimacies, quicksilver nuances tapered tropisms.

Pub Date: April 29, 1963

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1963

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