Publication

1972 - Vallentine, Mitchell, London, England

Language

English

Word Count

55,500 words, Guess

Page Count

222 pages

Identifiers

and 1 more
  • Goodreads3446167

Classifications

  • DDC823/.9/14
  • LCCPZ4.R8913 Se5
  • LCCPR6068.U2 Se5

Description

Gladys Sperber, the family "martyr," is the oldest of five "failures" who, because her mother is "too busy," virtually raises her siblings. "She would take her food when the others had eaten. . . . She would wait for their happiness before she felt entitled to her own, and she would have looked after their dying if she'd been able." The title refers to Gladys's destructive symbiotic relationship with her mother: the biblical book of Ezekiel observes that fathers eat sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. Although the novel, which covers two world wars, evokes the limited choices available to women in a man's world and is replete with manifestations of mother-daughter interdependence (an adult Gladys shares a bedroom with her widowed mother), it doesn't probe the psychodynamics of that relationship. The result is a contrived work that depresses rather than engrosses.

Subjects

Series Statement

  • Modern Jewish classics

Other Editions

  • Set On EdgeVallentine, Mitchell1972-01-01

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