Evening star., 1947-06-22
Reviewed by
CARTER BROOKE JONES.

We've all known people like Lily
Marsan, the middle-aged widow
who is the central character OF this
novel, the July selection Of the Lit
erary Guild.
Such persons, contrary to a super
fetal tradition, are not always
women. Men, in fact, can be gos-
sips and busybodies quite as ef-
fectively, though women, perhaps
unjustly, have amassed the repu-
tation for such talents.
Mrs. Marsan had an annuity
which kept her in reasonable COM
fort. She had no particular inter-
est except keeping track of all the
people around her, especially those
living in the small suburban apart
ment house 80 minutes from Times
Square. She was a gossip and she
did snoop and interfere. Her IA
vorite pastime was to sit in her
front window at night, with bor-
rowed opera glasses. and watch the
comings and goings at the tavern
across the street and the couples
who parked and petted. Sometimes
she saw stunning fight.
You Will Like Her.
If Miss Goertz had lifted her
brush at that point, Mrs. Marsan
would have emerged merely as a
portrait of a detestable woman, who
minded every ones business but
her own. But the author gave Mrs.
Marsan other qualities, which prob
ably will make you, as 1t made me,
first suspend and then revise judg-
ment. This character, in spite OF
her passion for prying, could be
generous, warm hearted, even un-
derstanding. Sometimes her un-
welcome forays into other peoples S
lives actually had beneficial results
for them.
In thus presenting Mrs. Marsan,
Miss Goertz has made the woman
more credible. People seldom are
all one thing or the other: they
are inconsistent composites of many
attributes, some likable, others the
opposite. I predict that before you
finish this interesting book you'll
find yourself liking Mrs. Marsan,
even sympathizing with her efforts
to untangle her neighbors from
some of their difficulties.
There are other provocative char
acters in Give Us Our Dream,
though none so well-rounded as
Mrs. Marsan. The account of these
commuters is lighted with frequent
flashes of humor. Their lives yield,
too, the pathos, the drabness and
the thwarted hopes that go with
such a typical community.
Not without Warning.
Unfortunately, the story woven
around these people is not as per-
suasive as they are. In other words,
the way they look, talk and live is
quite real: what happens to them is
another matter. The way things
work out for them usually is too
neat, too nearly what they needed,
to be likely in the illogical sequence
we call life.
Mrs. Marsan manages to bring
about two romances and to work
out a third problem, a triangle,
with only one broken heart instead
of three Each of these consuln-
nations is advertised we'll in ad-
vance.
AS for Mrs Marsan, when. early
In the book the doctor tells her to
take it easy on account of her
heart, there's never much doubt of
what happens on page 294. No au-
thor seems able to resist the worst
consequences of a tendency toward
angina pectoris or apprehension.
If Miss Goertz, like some boxers.
warns you where she's going to
strike next, there's no lack of en-
tertainment in the resulting f1urries
of action. And Mrs. Marsan re-
mains a memorable creation.