Word: eberstadt
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Even if the parody of the Long Island scene has been done before it remains humorous, perhaps benefitting from Eberstadt's youthful vantage point. This vantage point, however, is one of the novel's few flaws. Most of the story is told by Jezebel, but it is unclear how old she is. Sometimes she makes remarks only the dowdily middle-aged should try to get away with, while at other, moments she demonstrates the lack of perspective characteristic of an adolescent on a hormonal jag. Nonetheless, this flaw does not severely impede the novel, which becomes a wild string...
Full of bizarre images and powerful, if tortured emotions, Fernanda Eberstadt's Low Tide is well worth the read. It is the tale of Jezebel, a 19-year-old Manhattanite, and the two sons of her father's oldest friend. The latter pair are located in England where they squander their fabulous wealth in unimaginable ways...
...more interesting than the plot, however, is the background Eberstadt provides for each character, the fleeting situations, and the host of minor characters with their quick and pointed dialogue. She has a flair for constructing detailed, exotic scenarios which somehow manage to seem plausible without losing any of their fantastical quality. Each character is more eccentric than the fast, but instead of seeking like stylized brats seeking to be unconventional, they appear completely natural in their pursuit of oddities. Instead of pretension one finds rich, imaginative episodes, bordering on fantasy...
...prose itself is rich and carefully crafted, and it includes some amazing turns of phrase which must be read in context to be fully appreciated. Along the way there are a series of (apercus) of varying profundity. Eberstadt is an accute observer of the intellectual and social snobbery which prevails among the wealthy young. Mocking the common assumption that to be sophisticated is to be blase, unflappable, Jem says, "It's not glamorous not to be shocked. It's autistic." (The pun on artistic should not be lost on those who have ever tried this route to social chic...
...filling some of the most fundamental needs of mankind -from health care to supplies of food and energy." Yet both Wall Street and the public are taking a longer-term view of the potential profits from recombinant DNA research. Says Richard B. Emmitt, vice president of research for F. Eberstadt of New York: "Most people have been too optimistic about the size and commercial payoff of these companies...