George and Lizzie

July 24, 2017
Librarian and NPR commentator Pearl has made a living recommending great books; in this debut novel about love, regret, and forgiveness she tries her hand at fiction with mixed results. Her heroine is Lizzie, the only child of two famous but emotionally distant psychologists who use Lizzie to test their theories. Against the backdrop of this loveless childhood, Lizzie embarks on the “Great Game” of sleeping with every starter on the high school football team, but her attention-seeking efforts fail to generate anything more than negative voices in her head and a deep-seated self-hatred. When later her lust-filled relationship with college classmate Jack falls apart, Lizzie worries the Great Game is to blame. In steps George, a dental student with a “marshmallow” heart who wants nothing more than to make Lizzie happy. But even after Lizzie and George say “I do,” Lizzie finds herself pining for Jack. Pearl doesn’t give readers enough time to witness the deepening of George and Lizzie’s relationship for it to be convincing, and at times the characters seem out of step with the realities of 1990s-era early adulthood. Still, the path George and Lizzie’s relationship takes toward wholeness points to truths about the way people self-sabotage, the complexity of love, and the importance of being able to let go of the past.

When an author chooses to narrate her own work, as Nancy Pearl does, the listener benefits from a depth of understanding of the characters. But listeners need to be prepared that this narration is a reading, rather than a performance. The poignant and sometimes painful story is delivered with emotion in a clear voice at a decent pace. However, there is no differentiation of characters, and the story shifts in time, place, and point of view from chapter to chapter. As a result, the listener has to be totally tuned in to follow the journey of Lizzie and George as it brings them to their current state. Nonetheless, Nancy Pearl's love of literature and poetry comes through in her debut novel. E.Q. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine