Going Away Party

A successful stand-up comedian (and a Wall Street millionaire, according to her publisher), Pedersen shows off her verbal buoyancy but fails to construct a coherent plot in this lightweight coming-of-age novel. Narrator Jessica MacGuire suffers from a bad case of late-adolescent angst. The summer after her last year of college finds her living at home, supported by her parents, and studying for the calculus test she must pass in order to get her degree. No sooner does the rest of her family depart for a weeklong vacation, leaving Jess alone to buckle down for the exam, than middle-aged widower Denny Sinclair knocks on the door; he tells Jess he once lived in the house and wants to look around. A look leads to a drink, which leads to another and another. During a week of alcoholic haze, Jess manages to pass calculus, find a good job, reassess an old romance, discover a few surprises about Denny and her mother and, finally, grow up. Most of the novel consists of dialogue between Jess and Denny--sometimes reading like a very long stage play. Their quips are witty, however, and so are Pedersen's amusing characterizations of the eccentric MacGuires. The story culminates in an unexpectedly funny and touching ending. Sentence by sentence, Pedersen's debut can certainly entertain; as a whole, though, it seems a chapter in a running sitcom. (Oct.)