Jong-Fast (Normal Girl
) writes about growing up with her eccentric, bohemian mother (novelist Erica Jong, author of Fear of Flying
) in a Manhattan townhouse with a hot pink door. She pads the memories with sarcastic commentary about her love of chocolate, daytime TV and recreational drugs; her expulsions from school and success at rehab; and her experiences with "legions of servants," resulting in a memoir that's long on jokes but short on substance. The 25-year-old author remembers her lesbian great aunt who, as an old woman, shocked the family by holding hands with a male rabbi; her grandfather, novelist Howard Fast, who was obsessed with the idea that the New York Times Book Review
hated him; and her mom's various wildly inappropriate boyfriends, as well as the one who worked out (a divorce lawyer). She entertains with tales of her childhood encounters with a long line of therapists—who inevitably and boringly questioned her about how her mother's erotic writing affected her psyche—and her friendship with a beautiful, kind girl who turned out not to be perfect. Unfortunately, the stories' potential juiciness fizzles into snide remarks about the unattractive hijinks of the privileged. Ironic yet lacking insight, this collection provides an illuminating window into the world of the kids of "semi-celebrities," but its characters remain frustratingly unsympathetic. Agent, Suzanne Gluck. (On sale Apr. 5)
