Title: What to Keep Author: Rachel Cline type of book: Fiction call number: Fic

This book is strong in character.

Summary:
The book is divided into three glimpses of the life of Eden (Denny) Roman: as a twelve-year-old girl growing up with neuroscientist parents who have their own problems; as a 26 year old struggling actress home from Hollywood to decide "what to keep" before her mother sells her childhood memorabilia at a garage sale; and as a playwright trying to decide whether to "keep" the orphaned teenage son of her childhood mentor.

I might recommend this book.

Why?
Reviewers raved about this first novel from screenwriter ("Knot's Landing") Cline, calling it "Chick Lit for smarties," but I found most of the characters incredibly self-absorbed and one-dimensional. I didn't really care by the end if she ended up raising the boy, or if she and her mother ever got along. However, I devoured it in one day, so it's very readable.

Additional comments:
A lot of the book is set in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, and references to shopping at Lazarus' Department Store or eating at restaurants on Dublin-Granville Road might be familiar (and fun) for many Ohioans. But there is a slight hint of turning one's New York nose up at the Midwest. (The author, a native New Yorker, is a graduate of Oberlin College.)

Employee Initials: SB Review Date: May 2004

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