What a peculiar title for a debut work of fiction; enigmatic, but as the story unfolds, obliquely relevant. Greta, aged 16 and June, aged 14, daughters of tax accountants in Westchester county, New York in the spring of1987 are very different. June is the narrator throughout, and is insecure, introspective, lacking friends and completely obsessed with everything connected to her maternal uncle Finn, a gay artist in New York City who dies of AIDS. Greta is popular, confident in herself, and rebellious. After Finn’s death, his partner, Tobe, a British ex-con also harbouring AIDS, becomes the object of June’s obsession, dividing the family, who inflict guilt trips on each other, displaying betrayals, deceptions, and lies as the sisters increasingly become estranged before (inevitably) reconciling.
The fear, stigma and misunderstanding of AIDS in the mid 1980s before any effective treatment is realistically portrayed. The elitist world of modern art in New York in that era with an obsession with authenticity and widely inflated prices is likewise very realistically described.
The plot flows smoothly chronologically, with only June’s perspective and only becomes at all complex in the last 50 or so pages when loose ends are tied up. I found that the never-ending self-analysis, doubts, and ethereal musings of June became tiresome. The father is a rather colourless, bland, peripheral character that few readers will relate to- probably because he is too sane and normal- fatal characteristics for a fictional being.
This is a coming of age novel that some young readers may enjoy, but I cannot recommend it for old curmudgeons like me.
Thanks,
Andra.
The Passionate Reader 