by Carrie Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 20, 1981
First-novelist Smith, a divertingly chatty run-on stylist, finds a few new comic wrinkles as she episodically fills out one of the most familiar women's-fiction scenarios: the longtime housewife's struggle for competence and confidence as she breaks out of wedlock. Smith's housewife-narrator is Mrs. Harry Brown--who, after 17 years as wife of cop Harry, simply finds him boring and unattractive and, thanks to an affair (plus a VD scare that turns out to be psychosomatic), she decides to give him the heave-ho. Harry, however, is a highly reluctant divorce-ce: now thrown out, he showers his wife with floral arrangements (from a funeral home, unfortunately) and bugs the phone (which merely reveals the sleazy doings of their two teenage kids). But Mrs. B. holds firm--with appallingly erratic support from her ""best friend"" Marilyn, a grandly dreadful character who dispenses bad advice with Élan, concocts a patently phony rÉsumÉ for Mrs. B.'s job-hunting, and remains unwaveringly selfish through thick and thin. Among the newly single heroine's crises: hosting a thoroughly unpleasant coupon-trading party (the cat, high on her son's marijuana, throws up); trying to solder a water-pipe with Harry's tools; being termed a ""wogger"" by her fellow early-morning joggers; and getting in hot water--contempt of court--while idiotically helping Marilyn to contest a traffic violation (supposedly a frame-up by Harry's fellow cops). No great hilarity and no novelistic shape (Mrs. B. merely ends up selling the house and moving to an apartment)--but Smith is an unpretentiously jaunty storyteller with enough offbeat specifics to give the rebirth-at-37 formula a fair measure of freshness.
Pub Date: April 20, 1981
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: N/A
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1981
Categories: FICTION
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.