ANGEL FACE

by Norma Klein ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1984

Divorce traumas come once again to a ""typical American family""--in the Klein sense of the phrase. Dad is the editor of Human Rights magazine, a longtime philanderer who's now decided to leave Mom and marry journalist Randy. Mom is a sarcastic, foul-mouthed neurotic who's not taking the divorce-news too well. Older daughter Andrea is at law school, having an affair with a married man. High-school senior Ty doesn't sleep at home, but with girlfriend Juliet at her house; fragile Erin is away at boarding-school. And the narrator is 15-year-old Jason, Mom's favorite (""Angel Face"")--who divides his time between smoking pot and ""obsessing"" about losing his virginity. Much of the novel, then, follows Jason's relationship with classmate Vicki: there's lots of petting, some masturbation, but Vicki balks at going all the way. (""I just don't know. I always figured I'd be sixteen at least when I did it for the first time."") And meanwhile there are predictable tensions and upsets at home--as the divorce goes through, Dad's wedding day approaches, the four kids react variously, and 45-ish Mom looks for a new man or a new career. (""Used housewife devoid of skills capable of giving a good blow job if properly tuned."") Klein has a potentially viable psychological notion here: Jason's conflict between Mom's demands and the widening horizons of adolescence. There are a few funny lines, some charming/pathetic moments (Dad's wedding day, Jason's babysitting for an octogenarian) along the way. But Jason's a blank, Mom's a cartoon--with Klein's energy going into trendy details instead of characterization. (Sometimes trendy but inaccurate: Jason puts a glazed chicken Lean Cuisine in the oven-which should have an interesting effect on the plastic boiling pouch.) The resolution to the conflict is a jolt of unearned melodrama, crude and phony. Only for the hard-and-fast Klein following.

Pub Date: May 1, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1984

Categories: FICTION