Stepping Out

Here's a rinse-cycle item for dutiful role-playing housewives like Beverly Peck Gordon, who is stonewalled by the query: after the Bar Mitzvah (where she so brilliantly matched linen and members of the tetchy mishpocheh)--what? Husband Peter, whom she loves, wants her to run things smoothly and leave him alone to make money. Meanwhile, over in rural Connecticut, 50-ish WASP Harvey Porter, whose only knowledge of Bar Mitzvahs came from a coffee table anthropology book, has his crisis in spite of the unswerving loyalty of his spouse: after a change of careers, the tawdry town response to his legal defense of a homosexual teacher, the cool distance of his grown daughters, he too must ask--what's it all for? Then by chance Beverly and Harvey meet in Washington, D.C., and during a brief encounter Beverly expands like a peony; Harvey comes (and miraculously comes again) alive. The two are cut to fit: he mildly expresses his intense feelings; she fiercely displays her shallow emotions. A coupla nights and Harvey will re-enter Connecticut invigorated; Beverly Will take charge of her own destiny now. And there's that swell farewell airport scene that may draw some mist from old Ronald Coleman fans (""Go quickly dahling and don't look beck""). Ah yes, it's Cherry Blossom time in Orange, New Jersey, for this Peach of a Pear.-- Kirkus Review