[In "Chloris and the Freaks"] Mom starts cheating on her second husband (Fidel, a sculptor, who lives only "to create," but can discourse on men, women and divorce at the drop of a mallet) while leaving her two semi-demented daughters to their own devices. What devices? Chloris, the elder, has a seance nightly with "dear Daddy's spirit" (he killed himself for reasons I will spare you, after marrying his second wife); Chloris plans to oust the pontificating Fidel and get rid of a new contender too. Jenny, the younger, eschews such signs of insanity and prefers instead to follow the signs of the zodiac, treating us to everyone's daily horoscope. You might say it's a mixture of psychology à la Dr. Franzblau and your local one-flight-up astrologist, and I, for one, find either medium a tedium. (p. 52)

Alix Nelson, "Fractured Families," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1975 by...