For Jaffe fans, this epic tale may well satisfy; others are likely to find it more cloying than not.
Jaffe (Five Women, 1997, etc.) once again returns to her familiar (albeit formulaic) approach and offers a saga spanning five generations of American women.
The story begins and ends with the life of Rose Smith, born at the turn of the century. As it opens, ten-year-old Rose has just lost her mother and is left to the care of an older sister, a distant father, and an uncaring stepmother. Rose suffers through adolescence and young womanhood, then finally narrowly escapes spinsterhood by marrying, at age 25, a man she doesn't love. Quickly, Rose’s own family begins to grow and develop, and to her credit, Jaffe has nicely mirrored the significant changes in America that happen simultaneously: women’s liberation, world wars, technological and medical breakthroughs, and the sexual revolution are all witnessed through the eyes of Jaffe’s people. But though Jaffe liberally sprinkles historical tidbits throughout the text, most are glossed over too quickly to provide any significant weight to the narrative. The author’s true strength is the manner in which she acknowledges and brings to life the societal pressures that have been placed on women—pressures that have influenced their personal decisions on issues concerning marriage, divorce, and abortion over the last 100 years. When her characters do come to life, it is because of the sense of internal struggle that Jaffe is so adept at developing. Her frantic pace, however, keeps the action moving so quickly that most of them feel one-dimensional, and plotlines twist and turn a little too rapidly to afford them the opportunity to resonate.
For Jaffe fans, this epic tale may well satisfy; others are likely to find it more cloying than not.Pub Date: July 3, 2000
ISBN: 0-525-97774-5
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2000
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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