Family

September 1, 1987
The author of Jealousies has centered her new novel on a man's long struggle to feel part of a family unit. Orphaned at 12, Nick Austen spends his adolescence in a boys' home. The adult Nick easily falls into a career as a book salesman, but still he is haunted by the need to belong. Over several decades, Nick tries to form an idealized family through his relationships with women. The first is Dore, a teacher with whom he has a baby girl. Later there is Leslie, whom Nick marries and Robin, their daughter. Still later, Dore comes back on the scene. Nick is clearly intended as a sympathetic character, but the way he segues between the womenhedging his betsis manipulative and unattractive. A larger problem is the distanced perspective from which Nick's story is told. There is little dialogue, and the unemotional narrative tells too much and shows too little, lessening the novel's impact. Major ad/promo.

July 1, 1987
After the precipitous deaths of his adoring parents at age 12, Nick Austen grows up in a home for boys. Having known love at an early age, he is hungry for companionship but awkward in accepting it. When he finds his first love, Dore, he happily settles into a life of relative domesticity. When their infant daughter dies, the relationship falls apart. Nick finds comfort in the arms of Leslie, who later becomes his wife and mother of another daughter. Though he is crazy about his wife and over-protective of his child, Nick unfortunately remains smitten with Dore. His naked emotions and idiosyncrasies are understandable and endearing. In fact, all the characters are portrayed sympathetically. Leavitt, author of Jealousies ( LJ 8/83), writes persuasively, making us care immediately about this family's interrelationships, struggles, and demise. Recommended.Kimberly G. Allen, Supreme Court Lib., Washington, D.C.

Copyright 1987 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.