ODDS

A child’s death, a husband’s lies, and her own obsession with gambling force a young woman to gain her independence at last—in this thin celebration of hard-won maturity.

Set in New Orleans, the story begins when six-year-old George Jr. plays a mean trick on the family cat and his twin brother Gregor while they’re swimming in the family pool. As the panicked cat that George has thrown into the water claws, then tears Gregor’s raft, the boys’ mother Anna rushes to rescue Gregor, who was born without hands or feet, but she isn’t able to save George Jr., who drowns even though he can swim. Implausible, yes, but without George’s death, Anna (who never went to college because she married young on her mother’s advice) couldn’t begin the painful process that finally gives her confidence to stand up to her well-meaning but interfering mother Dorothy and to George, her patronizing husband. George, who always preferred George Jr., can’t forgive Anna for saving sweet-natured Gregor. And Anna, feeling guilty about saving the son she prefers, starts gambling to ease her hurt and confusion while George copes with his grief by seeing another woman. While Anna decides what to do about George’s confessed infidelity, she continues to gamble, meets a sympathetic fellow gambler, a fire chief, and neglects Gregor, who with grandmother Dorothy’s assistance is learning to use a prosthetic hand. When Anna hears that Gregor heard husband George say he thinks about drowning Gregor, she realizes that the marriage may be truly over. But before she makes any decisions, her mother insists she find out the truth about George’s family, who never came to their wedding and apparently disapprove of Anna. As she learns even more about George’s deceptions, Anna consults a lawyer, kicks her gambling habit, and contemplates a new life for herself and the really very sweet Gregor.

Vividly detailed settings fail to add weight to a schematic tragedy and a transparent cast.