Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Kvetching 'know thyself' practitioner overdoes it Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 15:07:21 EST Message-ID: Lines: 86 \SE D;LIFE;THE READ \HD Kvetching 'know thyself' practitioner overdoes it \BY Shawn Miller \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES The zen according to Gloria Steinem, well-documented in her recent best seller "Revolution from Within," is simple: The troubles and travails of the modern woman can be traced to an intrinsic lack of self-esteem. The blame for the fair gender's condition lies with the patriarchal family, society and men (in no particular order), and no woman can attain her natural state of Margaret Meadlike perfection unless she shakes free of these shackles. Luna Devon, the protagonist of Laramie Dunaway's second novel, is the ideal crash test dummy for Miss Steinem's theories. Luna's husband, whom she obediently followed as he evolved from graduate school student to aspiring novelist to jazz disc jockey and back to grad student, has left her for the dean of the local college's English Department. Luna's father, suffering from acute Peter Pan syndrome, reacts to the death of her mother by jaunting around the world on anthropological adventures, completely shirking his parental duties. And, as "Borrowed Lives" opens, 30-year-old Luna faces an uneventful life as an English professor, the perfect career for an old-maid-to-be. As with Miss Steinem, who credits a bout with breast cancer for changing her outlook on "the way [she] was living," it takes a good scare to snap Luna out of her rut: She is shot in the breast (coincidence?) by the neighborhood insomniac. Miss Steinem responded to her epiphany by going on an extended search for an inner child. No New Age reactionary, Luna takes a more dramatic approach to solving her problems. Disgusted with her own personality, Luna assumes the identity of her beautiful and intelligent best friend Wren, who obligingly gets herself murdered one chapter into the book. To help the reader understand why Luna would want to become her friend, the author has the insecure Luna spending much of the first chapter hyping Wren and brutalizing herself. Of Wren, Luna says: "She had never done one ungraceful thing in her life. She'd probably pirouetted out of her mother's womb and did the Maypole dance with the umbilical cord." Of herself: "Petty is my main character trait. Without petty I might not have any personality at all." "Petty" is an apt choice of word, but "annoying" would be more accurate. There is a thin line between expressing one's insecurities in a witty and insightful manner and plain old kvetching. In giving her character the freedom of the first person, the author has created a monster. Luna doesn't just moan and groan; she elaborates. Minor complaints turn into in-depth explorations on the meaning of life. A solitary trip to the movies leads to a lengthy contemplation on the true nature of happiness. Luna's inability to enjoy anything without reservation has an especially aggravating effect on the book's sex scenes, of which there are a good number. She sprinkles frequent complaints among her juicy details: "Sex makes me feel like the worst softball player on the playground." Luna's tendency to soliloquize diverts attention from the book's helter-skelter plot. In her most understated and effective observation in the novel, Luna decides, "It's not so wrong being someone else for a while." An unorthodox way to find oneself, perhaps, but no doubt more enticing to read about than six months of exploratory sessions with one of Miss Steinem's analysts. Shawn Miller is a reporter for Insight magazine. ***** BORROWED LIVES By Laramie Dunaway Warner, $18.95, 320 pages This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM