What Lisa Knew - Hardcover

Johnson, Joyce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399134743 ISBN 13: 9780399134746

Publisher: Putnam Adult, 1990

Synopsis

An account of the death of Lisa Steinberg at the hands of her adoptive father examines the relationship between Joel Steinberg and Hedda Nussbaum and analyzes the shocking issue of family violence in America

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Reviews

In 1989, Manhattan attorney Joel Steinberg was convicted of first-degree manslaughter in the death of his six-year-old illegally adopted daughter, Lisa; his live-in lover, Hedda Nussbaum, was granted immunity for testifying against him. Although the book covers ground already well trod by the media, Johnson's ( Minor Characters ) recap of the sordid domestic tragedy makes absorbing if depressing reading. She builds a persuasive case for Nussbaum's jealousy of Lisa and culpability in her death, posits that Steinberg and Nussbaum's relationship was sadomasochistic and mutually satisfying; that Lisa may have been sexually abused; and that Nussbaum's absolution as a battered woman is a setback for the feminist movement. The book bogs down with legal jargon and is disrupted by occasional soapboxing (on Nussbaum's first beating from her lover: "Rather than fearing Joel Steinberg, she only worshiped him more devoutly. But perhaps Hedda was also worshipping herself. Was she not God's handmaiden, the martyr/heroine of the Hedda Nussbaum drama?") Johnson's indictment of New York's adoption and child welfare services is convincing, but aspersions cast on Sylvia Haron, Lisa's teacher, and on Nicole Smiegel, the birth mother of Lisa's brother, Mitchell, also adopted, are questionable. BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Coming from esteemed novelist Johnson-- In the Night Cafe ( LJ 3/1/89) and National Book Critics Circle Award-winner Minor Characters ( LJ 1/15/83)--this rather routine exploration of the Lisa Steinberg case is a disappointment. Basically, Johnson recounts what was covered in the newspapers, even quoting Maury Terry, who also is working on a book on the subject, now scheduled to be published this August. Certainly, Johnson has the problem that the "truths and lies" will never really be known--Joel Steinberg and Hedda Nussbaum had an active (and drug-induced) fantasy life--and she can only conclude that "what Lisa knew" is the only truth. But of course the child can't tell us, and readers are left in that black despair of another heartbreaking yet almost futile retelling of this tragic story. Perhaps Susan Brownmiller had the better idea of fictionalizing and expanding on the known facts as she did in her novel Waverly Place ( LJ 2/15/89). BOMC alternate selection; both this and Terry's book were previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/89. --Judy Quinn, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Putnam Adult
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0399134743
• ISBN 13: 9780399134746
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 302