PIPER TOMPKINS

by Hen Field ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 1945

A very disappointing novel, described by the publishers as a labor novel, and neither good on that score nor holding on any other. The time is the present -- the locale an industrial town near dartford -- the central character is Piper Tompkins whose mother, opposing his enlatment, gets him a war job. Stubborn, resenting supervision or direction, he has so running with authority, with the union organizer, with fellow workman, and gets tagged as a lone wolf, an ambitious workman, and anti-labor, anti-Jewish, etc. Actually he isn't, but he won't be pushed around. And eventually be lines up with labor, the union, but sets high standards. And though puritanical at the start, he has a violent brief affair with his cousin, though really falling in love with the labor organizer's daughter. One feels balked and annoyed by his story. The substance is there for a vital novel of conflict within labor's ranks, but each path turns into a blind alley, as the author launches controversial issues and then lets them collapse. I'm not asking for an answer -- I'm simply asking that within the scope of character and story, conflicts are not stated and then assumed to have been overcome.

Pub Date: Feb. 7, 1945

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday, Doran

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945

Categories: FICTION