From Publishers Weekly
Brief and acerbic, this first novel by a daughter of the late Richard Ellmann details the emotional ups and downs of two American sisters, Suzy and Franny Schwartz, who are daughters of a prominent Oxford art historian. Seemingly cynical from birth, the two women court unhappiness with a fatalism caused in part by the early death (from a "Neurological Event") of their mother, and ultimately confirmed by the lingering death of their kindly, self-effacing father, tacitly acknowledged as the only good guy around. The weaknesses of the sisters include food-binging/purging; sexual waywardness; professional muddle (each writes art criticism sporadically); and lovelessness. Making mistakes about men is their forte. Suzy, unwisely involved with Jeremy and unexpectedly pregnant, tartly notes, "If I was going to commit suicide as the result of an abortion, I would have to have the baby, it was decided by Jeremy." Winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize in England, this funny but meager novel is arch to a fault, composed of bitter, staccato snippets of observations on the frustrations of life. Ellmann writes about art for the Times Literary Supplement.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In this extremely funny first novel, Suzy Schwarz has an insatiable appetite for both sex and sweets. From babyhood on, she follows in her sister Fran's footsteps--or compulsions; she learns her bulimic behavior from Fran, and the men in her life are Fran's hand-me-downs. Both sisters study art history; their father is an eminent art historian whose violent dislike of Rubens is one probable cause of the sisters' eating disorders. This is Suzy's journal of her life, and it is sprinkled with fragments of Irma Rombauer, self-help diet books, Dr. Ruth-like radio talk shows, and finally Suzy's own doctoral thesis. It concludes with a tongue-in-cheek index, a joy in itself. First published in Britain in 1988, this novel won the Guardian Fiction Prize.
- Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, Ore .Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
