Word: nora
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...school cronies who rival each other inspite of their longstanding friendship. Kit, sophisticated and cosmopolitan, writes quality books that don't sell. Milly, banal and spitefully petty, writes trashy romances that make the bestseller's list. Milly accuses Kit of luring her husband (Jamie Wolf) and daughter Deidre (Nora Jaskowiak) from her; Deidre unwittingly sweeps Kit's boyfriend Rudd (Matthew Haynes) off his feet. None of this, however, is powerful enough to shatter the relationship between the two, which somehow manages to transcend all differences...
...Nora as heroine is defenseless and lovable but tries our patience. She hasn't an ounce of spunk--an unfortunate deviation from the Gothic tradition. Asking for a joint bank account becomes a crisis of independence. After being robbed of her wedding ring and wristwatch, she wonders whether the event was unreal or surreal. Our sympathy for Nora is further lessened by Schwamm's emphasis on Nora's contradictory and oppressive wealth. It is hard to feel for the frenzy of the poor little rich girl when it is described in terms of "her pulse...beating against the hammered gold...
...NORA's autobiography is that of a disciple, but one senses that she as narrator has still not understood the ideal towards which the novel pushes, the grasping of Lautner's particular ideology. Her struggle is therefore simply a document, neither cast into perspective nor interpreted incisively. This results partly from the limitations of Schwamm's technique: the author frequently displays such annoying faults as complacently explicating the dialogue she has just penned. Nora's attitude towards her father, for example, is summarized: "She loved him and regarded him as wise-after-all. Sometimes she was ashamed...
...dialogue is extraordinarily real. The novel does offer an unparalleled portrayal of the life of New York's leisurely class in the '80s; Schwamm's setting includes Max Ernst dresses, original Bauhaus furniture and Balducci's. The snubs and gossip at the parties and charity auctions which so bore Nora furnish some of the most absorbing information we receive, and here the narrative commentary finally achieves the appropriate level of irony...
...what ultimately bogs the novel down is its lack of irony. Our perception of Nora's leisurely predicament is caught up in her own hesitancy. The parable does not deliver a satisfying revelation, but it still manages to drain us of sympathy for Nora. How He Saved Her entertains us, but leaves us dissatisfied...