Pocket, Jun 2002, 24.00, 224 pp.
ISBN: 074341134X
In 1961, her military rigid father informs thirteen-year-old Katie Nash that since she is now grown up she needs employment during the summer. Katie thinks of obtaining a job at a nearby concession stand, but her dad must not believe she is that grown up because he arranges her work. She is to help the elderly Randolphs and to baby sit the Wexler males. Katie's opinion is interpreted as sassy talking back further proving how grown up her father feels his daughter is.
Click here to see the rest of this review
A trip to Texas to visit her former best friend turns into a disaster as both have moved on different paths since they last saw one another. Back home, the mother of her friend Cynthia, forces Katie to join the local scouts. Katie believes she is now a member of the loser's club. As the summer of her discontent moves towards the beginning of the school year, Katie learns the meaning of friendship at a high cost with only her stepmother as her ally.
TRUE TO FORM is an engaging coming of age character study that focuses on an adolescent's struggle with changes in her life forces her to look inside herself. The story line is breezy yet poignant, not an easy feat but accomplished by talented Elizabeth Berg. The author keeps life's lessons lighthearted for the reader, but deep and angst-laden for the lead protagonist, who is the puissant key to an effective, entertaining elucidation on maturing.
Harriet Klausner
The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner
