Bronwyn Fischer

A very readable yet very unsettling book. First of all, who is The Adult? At first I assumed it was Nora, the older woman who somehow managed to become the object of Natalie's obsession. Calling her The Adult to my mind made the point I felt throughout, that she, much older, should have known better. Yet it is also a "coming of age" novel - so is Natalie more adult at the end than at the beginning? I did not think so.

Fischer kept Nora at such a distance it was hard to understand how compelling Natalie found her. How old was she? What did she look like? Why did she seduce Natalie?

And I also found Natalie bewildering. Her free associations, often described, were quite bizarre. What did she represent for Nora?

In sum, while very readable, these questions interfered with my enjoyment of the book. And the distance Fischer enforced made me wonder if this was a memoir in disguise.… (mere)