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THE YOUNG IN LOVE by Denise Cass Brookman

THE YOUNG IN LOVE

By

Pub Date: Oct. 29th, 1962
Publisher: Macrae-Smith

An introverted, rambling saga of what happens when a little-girl-on-the-brink-of-the teens takes the plunge. Jan Jordan is confused about many things. Her mother's embarrassment and hygienic sense of right does little to relieve Jan's free floating anxiety about sex and growing up. Her initiation into the phase is consummated by a kiss from David, her next door neighbor, and a tingling awareness of him as a Boy. But before long Jan turns to riper groves. Her strong attraction to a suave older boy is not returned in kind. He finds Jan too naive and turns her over to another member of the crowd. Jan finds herself using each of these new relationships to her own advantage, is dissatisfied and turns to her friends for solace and some answers. What she gets is cynicism and a Cold Hard Look at Men. As confused as ever, Jan takes another look at David, discovers his sensitivity to poetry and decides to make a real friendship here. This then is the bare outline of an intense if aimless bit of soul searching. Aside from the incongruities- (bright witty conversation despite her lack of experience, poetry recitations in the moonlight, etc.)- this plot suffers from an abundance of cliches and, more seriously, from an absence of direction and guidance by the author.