Bethie

Growing up in New York City during World War II, Beth's friendship with Grace is strained as Grace grows more and more despondent following he parent's divorce

Grade 8-10-- While World War II rocks the world around them, long-time friends Beth and Grace grapple with fractured families and thwarted romantic relationships. Beth, a still-vulnerable veteran of her parents' divorce six years ago, tries to offer her devastated friend support after Grace's father leaves her mother for another woman. Grace moves to New York City and settles into Beth's school and circle of friends, but the bitterness and armor of perfection that she adopts provide only imperfect palliatives for her pain. Overwhelmed with abandonment anxiety as she loses her boyfriend, her father, and a sympathetic teacher, Grace commits suicide. The story is told through Beth's perspective; for her, Grace's ordeal ultimately brings a new appreciation of her father's second marriage and her mother's mental instability which most strongly command readers' interest. The novel abounds with rich characterizations; Beth's step-mother Jean, torn between family demands and career desires, is especially vivid. Rabinowitz skillfully depicts the divided loyalties, step-parent frictions, and volatile emotions which accompany divorce. The realistic dialogue, the well-drawn 1943 homefront setting, and the superior portrayal of the difficult friendship between Beth and Grace guarantee reader appeal. --Merilyn S. Burrington, Vergennes Union High School, Vt.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Beth admires her friend Grace's father, Ben, and his family's stability in contrast to that of Beth's. It's a bitter blow when Beth learns that Ben has left his wife and family for another woman. As Grace grows aloof and becomes close with Beth's brother, the girls' friendship is increasingly strained. Nevertheless, Beth is profoundly shocked when Grace commits suicide. In the aftermath, Beth gains a measure of appreciation for her own father and reaches out to Ben. Set in New York City during World War II, Rabinowitz's novel provides a rare look at the response of American Jews to the situation in Hitler's Europe. However, its structure and characterizations are flawed. Grace has little psychological dimension, and the reasons for her suicide--the novel's climactic event--remain formulaic. The issue of sexuality is handled unevenly, treated slightly (even quaintly) in some instances and baldly in others. This is a novel that never really found its feet. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.