THE CHAPIN SISTERS

This novel was an Avery Hopwood Award book, but never published, since it was the then unpopular novelette length. The author, after a lapse of several years, has expanded it to average length, and frankly we feel it would have been better in its original form, for it now seems tenuous, thin -- and dull. It's the story of two sisters and their path to bitter, narrow, unhappy spinsterhood. As girls they were vivacious and energetic enough to get some fun out of life. With added years they became more narrow, bored, frustrated and jealous of each other -- and at the end, one becomes a religious fanatic and -- (this wont be popular) the other a librarian. The writing is good, the author successfully creates a gray mood, handles the characters expertly. But she lacks the psychological penetration that might redeem it.