THE EXACT AND VERY STRANGE TRUTH

by Ben Plazza ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 22, 1964

Actor Ben Plazza tells, with a tight control of sentiment, a heart breaking tale of the gradual erosion of love and security in the life of a young boy. It had been very special and good for Alexander Gallenti in the days of the Sunday car drives with Daddy and Mother in the front seat and the family alone and close. But after the death of his father (that exuberant Sicilian shoemaker who had married a young Baptist who bore him nine children) even the beloved Rock House which his father had built did not seem as strong. Older brothers and sisters when they were married seemed to grow outside the family, and it was a very small family- Alex, Veronica and Quentin - who stayed with the housekeeper and Mother after her crippling stroke. Yet Alex persists in clinging to the tiny family as his mother and the others take a trip from Little Rock to Savannah for the summer. When his mother dies grotesquely in a theatre and Alex, his brother and sister are to be sent to different homes, the Little boy nightmares of abandonment have come true. Although the cruel coincidences are somewhat artificial Alex is a real little boy, possessive, anxiety-ridden, with a pathetic dignity. Sensitive and evocative.

Pub Date: Sept. 22, 1964

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Co.

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1964

Categories: FICTION