It is June 1963, and four young people are graduating from college in New York City. Jay is the would-be writer, eager to escape into a truly American world, a world unlike that of his Russian-born, blacklisted father, a scholar who spends his time playing chess and reread ing Chekhov in the original. Involved from the beginning of his college years with his tempestuous classmate, Xenia, Jay learns in painful ways how the two of them can live together and apart. The ultimate fate of their relationship spells out one of the themes of this intricately structured novel-how men and women can progress from friendship to passion and back again without destroying the bonds that originally drew them together. Shy, tentative Susan, more of an observer than the others, takes the longest to find her destiny. Finally, in Egypt, she establishes a profession as a nature photographer; which wins her international renown, but at a tragic price. Intimate friends from childhood, she and Xenia remain close throughout decades that shape their lives in completely different ways.
Used availability for Norma Klein's American Dreams