Uninvited Daughters
Elinor Spielberg. St. Martin's Press, $18.95 (221pp) ISBN 978-0-312-09914-5
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.)
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Reviewed on: 10/04/1993
Genre: Fiction