Uninvited Daughters

Despite an overly formulaic plot whose denouement is telegraphed early, Spielberg's fiction debut is an appealing story, just quirky enough to keep readers engrossed in the life of its 30-something protagonist, who is still searching for a comfortable identity. Odessa Levin fled her upper-middle-class Jewish Long Island background for a small Vermont town, where she flaunts her ethnicity at the same time she tries to out-WASP the old-money Yankees whom she envies. All her life Odessa has been insecure, certain that she was unwanted by her mother. When she meets another ``uninvited daughter,'' sad but sassy 10-year-old Megan Vasquez, Odessa cannot at first open-up emotionally to the youngster, who is desperately looking for a mother figure. Megan lives with Samantha (Sam) Benedict, the contemporary version of a wicked stepmother. Sam is a Marxist-feminist fanatic who fatuously tries to save the world while scandalously nelecting her own family; as it turns out, she is also running away from her heritage, the privileged old-money background that Odessa craves. Odessa's wry, self-deprecating voice is the novel's best asset. The supporting characters--doughty Vermonters--are also captured with wicked accuracy. The novel's worst flaw is a saccharine letter near the end, suitable for a three-hankie movie. Nonetheless, Spielberg establishes herself as a writer of promise. (Oct.)