Kirkus Reviews QR Code
TWO IN THE CITY by Robert Kaplow

TWO IN THE CITY

By

Pub Date: April 25th, 1979
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

The trials and frustrations (and not much else) of suburban David, newly graduated from high school, who breaks with his family and passes up college to move into a New York apartment with his girlfriend Stacey. Both get boring clerical jobs, but David feels stifled in his, seemingly passing every moment in a state of boiling desperation, whereas Stacey thrives in hers and becomes irritated with what she sees as David's weakness. Kaplow paints a realistic picture of mutual misery as the relationship falls apart, but then he brings the couple together in the end for a show of faith that readers have no reason to share. Especially as the pair's conversations have been nothing but mushy and vacuous throughout and David's moods and behavior give us no cause to believe in him.