"Gossip of the Starlings" by Nina de Gramont (Algonquin, ISBN 9781565125650,
$22.95)
I can't exactly remember how the question was posed. I vaguely remember that
several members of the Watermark staff were out with an author following a
reading. "What was the book that did it for you," the author asked. "What
book made you realize the power of literature?" I recall that my answer came
easily. The book is still on my shelf. The exact book--branded with
"Property of Garden Plain High School" inside the flap. "A Separate Peace"
by John Knowles. So when a galley arrives promising in red 14-point type
across the top--"A chilling debut novel in the tradition of 'A Separate
Peace'"--I had no option but to read it.
In "Gossip of the Starlings," our narrator is Catherine Morrow. Pulled out
of one school by her father when she is caught in bed with her boyfriend,
she finds her self in-residence at the Esther Percy School for Girls. While
at this new school, she remains close with her friends, Susannah and Drew,
and John Paul--the boyfriend with whom she's so close they can read each
other's minds and finish each other's thoughts. Well, not really. This is
the early 80s and they've used a lot of drugs.
Catherine notes: "In the fall of 1984, there were three teenage girls whose
names we all recognized. Phoebe Cates, who skipped--with a smiling mouthful
of braces--through our outgrown subscriptions to 'Seventeen.' Brooke
Shields, who had disrobed on film at the exact moment our own bodies became
a desperate source of uneasiness. And--in Massachusetts, at least--there was
Skye Butterfield: who had appeared on campaign podiums since her head barely
grazed her father's elbow."
Skye also finds herself at Esther Percy after two instances--altruistic
transgressions which ultimately helped her father's campaign--get her
expelled from Devon. She selects Catherine as her best friend who--like it
or not--is along for quite a ride. What began as a daughter serving as the
sacrificial lamb for her father's senatorial bid quickly turns to the
self-destruction of a young girl desperately seeking and demanding affection
from anyone who will grant it.
In "A Separate Peace," Phineas's flaw was that he was too good and believed
that the same goodness existed in others--Gene would NEVER intentionally
jostle the branch. But these girls recognized each other's vice yet still
followed one another in a downward spiral.
Nina de Gramont has written a great novel. Her observations of the human
condition are both uncanny and thought provoking. Like Phineas and Gene,
these characters will stay with the reader a long time. Perhaps I'll donate
"Gossip of the Starlings" to my old high school.
Review by Beth
Golay, July 10, 2008
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