Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Silly Little Rich Girl-Jimmy Gleacher

Silly Little Rich Girl
Jimmy Gleacher
Casperian, Apr 1 2009, $12.00
www.casperianbooks.com
ISBN: 9781934081174

As she lies in the hospital Liza Davis reflects amusingly on the New York Post headlines that dubbed her and Lily Durfee as SILLY LITTLE RICH GIRLS doing an inane stunt to get attention. Liza muses that the media as always does what it does best rush to judgment without supporting facts.

Her hospitalization can be traced initially to when her older sister Jamie vanished after their business oriented mom ripped her for joining the Peace Corps instead of getting a real job. Missing her sibling, Liza, a student at Dartmouth, began writing letters to herself signed by her sister. Her mom pressures Liza to work on Wall St when she graduates when she wants to do is design clothing; which reminds her of her vanished sister. However, her quest to find her sibling, who reportedly never showed up in Africa, becomes her obsessed mission; reality is not an issue nor is danger as she travels the country in her pursuit.

This is a refreshing brisk family drama starring an intriguing college age student and her affluent anti-soccer Type A mom. Through their dysfunctional relationship the audience obtains a picture of Jamie and their younger brother Jack. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Jamie disappears and never slows down as Lily lands in one troubled situation after another culminating in the media flip flops re an abduction and hospitalization. SILLY LITTLE RICH GIRL is a philosophical intense yet often humorous character study of a family of four with one kitchen chair currently empty though the table is set to include her.

Harriet Klausner

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