Summer People - Softcover

After 11 years, the menage a trois of Dinah Adler and Willie and Susan DeWitt is a strong family unit, accepted in its Cape Cod community. Dinah is a respected composer, devoted to her music, and Willie is a sculptor and carpenter happy with his life (and the envy of the local men). But Susan's growing discontent--with her work as a fabric designer and her role as unofficial gofer and hostess for summer people--ruptures the relationship and leads to tragedy. Piercy tells this story in short chapters in the alternating voices of several characters, making the narrative choppy and occasionally repetitive, and stuffs it with details so it sometimes seems interminable. Worse, these characters--except for the three primary ones--are basically shallow and opportunistic, and difficult to care about. A disappointing novel from a notable author.
- Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Va.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Set in Cape Cod, featuring liaisons aplenty and "related in an absorbingly leisurely fashion, Piercy's latest is an old-fashioned novel in the sense that it doesn't tell a flashy story, but delves into character and relationships, slowly weaving a richly nuanced tale," wrote PW .
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.