The Woman Who Was Not All There

After divorcing her husband, Marjorie LeBlanc struggles to raise and support her four children and find her own identity

This amusing first novel about an eccentric Southern family is a slow starter. The irregular and somewhat self-conscious rhythms of the narrative take a bit of getting used to, but after the first 100 pages or so readers who are still with it will realize that they have been drawn into the story by a steady and insistent series of images and characterizations that do, after all, add up to a memorable and witty first effort. Marjorie LeBlanc and her four children scrabble along in their shabby house in Durham, N.C. Byron Coffin, Marjorie's ex-husband"Mr. Big"is long gone, and the children have little sense of him beyond an occasional inappropriate gift that arrives in the mail. The story takes place over several years' time, during which the children grow up and Marjorie develops a sense of herself. Told in episodic chunks, the book is freighted with a little too much of everything: vivid descriptions, fantastic plot developments and pointed explanations are at times burdensome. There's a good story here, and any flaws are those of a writer of obvious ability whose enthusiasm occasionally outweighs her judgment. With experience, Sharp should reveal first-rate talent.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This whimsical, funny debut novel speaks of commonplace themesdivorce, work, marriage, independence, and friendshipcast in the rural communities of the modern South. The narrative tracks the progress of a poor white family, Marjorie LeBlanc and her four children, over a generation as they drift toward their separate paths, seemingly for the better. Marjorie is depicted as a crude, headstrong mother with an incredible compassion for her offspring, and therein lies the power of this curiously askew novel. Although the chronology and time lapses are a bit confusing and arbitrary, the characters (especially the juveniles) are well-etched and the dialogue gritty and genuine. Edward C. Lynskey, Documentation, Altantic Research Corp., Alexandria, Va.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.