The Inn at Lake Devine

Rating:
Summary: a great, quick, fun read!
Review: Natalie Marx as a child goes beyond irreverence to confront anti-semitism and try to uncover its causes, inspired by "The Diary of Ann Frank". The reader is led to believe this daring child will mature into an adult who is willing to fight against injustice, but instead she makes jokes and instructs her Wasp boyfriend in Yiddishisms. She becomes really cute. What a sellout.
The book also sets up a great villain with Ingrid Berry but doesn't explore any of the potential for a denouement with Natalie, who as a child tried to torment her with first with crank phone calls, then getting herself invited to the restricted Inn.
Lipman writes well, and can create good characters; did she lose interest after the first chapters? Kris, the boyfriend, had been fat as a child, and presumably also, like Natalie, felt like an outcast, but this is not explored.
All the main characters sound as if they could be played by movie stars, even the quirky Linette.
After setting us up for cultural confrontations, the Jewish girls marry their Wasp hunks with no sparks flying. Again, even comedic possibilities are unexplored. Everyone lives happily ever after.
This book could have appeared in a 50's women's magazine.