Customer Reviews

In Thrall

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you, like me, have forgotten just how annoyingly tedious REAL teenagers talk, reading this book will bring it right back to you.

The main female character, Lynn, a senior in high school, seems to have developed a crush on a 37 year old female teacher, who as it turns out is a lesbian.

However Lynn doesn't seem to really know how she feels about ANYTHING, including her crush on Miss Maxfeld. The only certainity in Lynn's life is the fact she abhors her parents, who apparently have no thoughts or conversations about anything besides their only daughter, Lynn.

Page after endless page we drift along with Lynn as she indulges herself in what passes for thoughts and conversations. Lynn wonders a lot, but learns nothing, and neither does the reader. For a young woman on the brink of entering her college years, Lynn behaves more like a 12 year old.

I would only recommend this novel to someone who suffers from severe insomnia or who enjoys being bored stiff. Two stars was actually being generous on my part.

IN THRALL is, quite simply, one of the most perfect, searing, original, and touching novels written by an American in the last fifty years. I've re-read it several times since it came out almost 20 years ago, and it remains as fresh and exciting and pertinent as the day it came out. Not for the politically correct, this novel will appeal to intelligent, literary people. If you enjoy thrilling, daring writing--this book is for you. This is a universal story that will never date.

I was about the same age as the main character Lynn at the time of the story, although I was only a junior. Ms. DeLynn gets the self-consciousness (social and intellectual) of "gifted" teens of the period down pat. It makes me very grateful that I did NOT come out in high school!