An Independent Woman - Hardcover

Fast, Howard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151002711 ISBN 13: 9780151002719

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1997

Synopsis

In the conclusion to the popular Immigrants series, family matriarch Barbara Lavette returns to both Europe and Israel, as she finds romantic love and encounters the biggest challenge of her life.

About this title

About the Author

Howard Melvin Fast (11 November 1914, New York City - 12 March 2003, Old Greenwich, Connecticut) was a Jewish American novelist and television writer, who wrote also under the pen names E. V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson.

Reviews

An unexpected sixth novel in Fast's Immigrants saga, issued 12 years after the fifth (and supposedly final) installment, The Immigrant's Daughter (1985). Once again, the protagonist is Barbara Lavette, now 68 and the matriarch of a large and successful California clan. Barbara has always been the archetypal activist (having been, variously, a labor organizer in the 1930s, an adventurous reporter in the 1940s, a defiant victim of the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s, and a vigorous supporter of the struggles of blacks and women for equal rights, as well as an opponent of the Vietnam War), and this time out she takes on the case of a young black man she believes has been unfairly treated by the police. She also, to the astonishment of her friends and family, marries again. But her continuing battles for justice, and her honeymoon, are cut short by the news that she has developed cancer. Not much happens here--there are a good many amiable meals, fond chat between family members, a discreet courtship, and the name-dropping and walk-ons by the famous that have always been a part of the series--and the ending would seem to suggest that this really is the conclusion of the saga. A muted, somewhat puzzling, addenda to a lively (and successful) series. (First printing of 100,000) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In the finale to his successful Immigrants series, Howard Fast reunites us with Barbara Lavette, now the matriarch of her fascinating, tangled family. What makes this family so beguiling is its diversity in both ethnicity and character, for the people are drawn with imagination and insight. Barbara is the rock, the one to counsel and console. One night, a prowler breaks into her house; Barbara yields her jewels but not before asking the young black man, since he is obviously educated, why he became a criminal. He explains that in spite of his education, he is a janitor. When he leaves, Barbara decides not to report the incident because she cannot in good conscience send this young man to prison--it would go against her lifelong liberal principles. When he is caught with her jewelry pieces the next day, she insists that she gave them to the young man, and her family knows better than to quarrel with her. What ensues is a beautiful, intriguing story of one woman's final years of life, involving family, friends, a new lover, and the face of death. Fast is an exceptional storyteller, whether expressing sublime moments of happiness or describing events as ordinary as someone making dinner. This is a wonderful novel. Mary Frances Wilkens

Since 1977, Fast (The Bridge Builder's Story, LJ 9/1/95) has been spinning tales about one immigrant family, the Lavettes of California, focusing on Barbara Lavette, whose marriages and adventures illustrate the astonishing changes in American life during the 20th century. In the sixth and final book in the series, Fast portrays Barbara's last love affair, with an ex-Jesuit whose spirituality and naivete provide rich material for a master storyteller. Their romance blossoms as the younger generation copes with a multitude of problems. Fast has a good ear for dialog, and most of the story develops in conversations. For readers exhausted by literary extremes, this novel is like an oasis, easy on the spirit. Fans will snap up this final installment, so every fiction collection will want it.
-?Barbara Conaty, Lib. of Congress
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0151002711
• ISBN 13: 9780151002719
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 340