The theme [of The Fog Comes On Little Pig Feet] inevitably recalls Salinger; the disastrous first week at a posh boarding school of Rachel, fierce, funny and working-class, sent there by her sad and anxious parents to meet "nice girls from nice families"…. There isn't much of a plot; loyalty to a run-away delinquent friend, to her own scale of values, to those worried parents; these provide conflict enough.
The book is tougher and more sophisticated than any English equivalent I know, and certainly more literate: a friendship is sealed by a Carl Sandburg misquotation and the tone throughout is urbane. There are quite a few Americanisms (public school, Kotex, etc), which could well have been edited out. None of this, I hope, should prevent the book being enjoyed by literate young English readers. It's well written, it's funny, and it feels so right that it comes as no surprise to learn from the blurb that it is based on the author's own experience.
Rosamond Faith, "Lack of Promise," in The Times Literary Supplement (© Times Newspapers Ltd. (London) 1976; reproduced from The Times Literary Supplement by permission), October 1, 1976, p. 1243.
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