This Old Heart of Mine: The Best of Merrill Joan Gerber's Redbook Stories - Hardcover

This compilation of 25 short stories published in Redbook magazine from 1964 to 1991 chronicles the marriage and family life of Janet and Danny and their three daughters. At the beginning, newlywed Janet works while Danny gets his Ph.D. at Harvard. Many of the stories deal with the concerns of the middle-class suburban family--bringing home the newborn, dealing with the mother-in-law, taking the children to swimming class. In the last story Janet must learn to adjust to her newly emptied nest. The older stories have not aged well; they describe narrowly a time, situation, and feeling that are long gone. In "Katie" (1972), for example, a nine-year-old girl, overweight and neglected because her mother works, annoys Janet when she leaves a tomato stain on the carpet; Janet must learn charity in the end. In most of the stories Janet seems perpetually petulant and Danny either long-suffering at best or oblivious at worst. Not recommended.
- Mary Ann Parker, California Dept. of Water Re sources Law Lib., Sacramento
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.