Evening star., 1950-12-03
Boston Is All
sweetness i'm
Keyes Novel
JOY STREET
BY Frances Parkinson Keyes.
Julius MeSsner, Inc; $3.)
Reviewed by Mary MeGrory

Reviewed by Mary McGroy
Mrs. Frances Parkinson Keyes.
one of the most popular novelists
of our time, has written an earnest
extravaganza of sweetness and
light about Boston, city which
does not usually arouse such quail
ties in its chroniclers. Equally
hospitable to proper Bostonians
and South Bostonians, she finds
good in both. Her sentiments are
unexceptionable, even if her prose
is not.
No one who has ever lived in
Boston will deny the authenticity
of the background. Applying local
color with lavish hand, Mrs.
Keyes has taken fond note of
everything from the cobblestone
in Louisburg Square to the corn
bread in Durgin-Parks Restau-
rant. Her characters are enor-
mously we'll informed and voluble
and at the slightest provocation
launch into oral compositions
about local legends and historic
points of interest.
Joy Street" has more lore than
a guidebook, but it does not, as
far as this reader is concerned,
generate much more emotion. In
fact. the strongest passion in the
book seems to be for informa-
ton and the cast keep regaling
each other with details of law
cases. housekeeping arrangements,
antiques, fabrics, interior deco
rating and Russian history.
Shorn of it's catalogues of
menus and interiors and un-
abridged polite conversations, the
plot of "Joy Street" is relatively
simple. The heroine is a flower
of Brahmin clan named Emily
Thayer, who marries a colorless
but impeccable equal named Roger
Field, in spite of her grandmoth-
er's warning that this is not the
real thing. They manage to
achieve q reasonable facsimile.
however, as Roger, with liberal
assist from grandmother, plods
ahead in a law firm which has
boldly experimental by hiring a
Jew, an Irishman and an Italian
to augment the prevailing blue
bloods. Emily and Roger high
mindedly attempt little melting
pot experiment in their own i'm
maculate drawing room, but this
turns out to be a shambleS
While their social life goes
serenely on, two Of Rogers associ-
ates-a brilliant, cultivated. fas-
cinating Jew named David Sala-
mont, and vigorous but not very
cultivated Irishman named Brian
Collins-both fall in love with the
fair Emily. The climax Of one
of these subterranean yearnings
reveals Mrs. Keyes' method of
maintaining suspense too we'll not
to be noted. Emily. who burns
for David in a well-bred way, at
a country house party. is aroused
by the banging Of her door, and
rushes to close it. So does he.
The paragraph. and episode ends.
They feach it at the same mo-
ment, meeting on its threshold"
Not until IS closely written pages
later does a mildly curious reader
discover the outcome Of this en-
counter.
Mrs. Keyes herself knows Bea-
con Hill from the top side. 9 cir
cumstance which has not kept her
from investigating the down side.
too. The subplot is concerned
with a pair Of star-crossed Italian
lovers. She is aware of the domi-
mating racial elements in Boston,
and takes note of the fact that
they have not logged along to-
gether in the greatest congenial-
ity. But all such unpleasantness
is swiftly muff1ed in great folds OF
verbiage. There is no reason to
believe that legions of readers
will not fall on her latest effusion
or avidly read it, wishing the
while perhaps that life would imi-
tate fiction and be as genteel.
X Il