The Daily Herald from Chicago, Illinois • Page 74

One woman's struggle with life and love HOW TO SAVE YOUR OWN LIFE by Erica Jong (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Reviewed by Joan Hanauer Once upon a time when a reviewer called a novel a "woman's book" he probably meant it was a three-handkerchief tearjerker, a happy-ending romance with all the reality of a Technicolor sunset, or a gothic that featured on its cover a woman in a nightgown running away from a castle. Such stereotypes fell in the early days of the feminist revolution. Nowadays women's books are those in which a confused modern woman is trying to sort out her life, decide which of the old verities to trust and which should be thrown out with the bubble bath water. "Women's books" also can contain every bit as much explicitly erotic material as men's and perhaps more. It appears likely that the success of such books may owe as much to male chauvinist readership as emancipated women buyers.

Erica Jong, who wrote'the best selling "Fear of Flying," which was a woman's book of the new genre, now has a sequel "How To Save Your Own Life." In it she picks up the life of Isadora Wing three years after the readers left her in "Fear or Flying." She is still struggling with life and love, and Miss Jong details how her marriage falls apart, as Isadora struggles with well- founded jealousy and, in its way, equally well-founded guilt. Isadora goes on to success as a novelist, but she still is learning to fly. For better or worse, she does much of her flight training in various beds, which adds spice, if not depth, to the book. She has realized in this book, partly because of the suicide of a poet-friend, that really the basic choice is between life and death. Either choice is possible; only indecision is unacceptable.

"How To Save, Your Own Life" is not everyone's book. Chances are those who liked "Fear of Flying" will enjoy its successor. But it is not for those who-are turned off by all the details of a modern woman's sexual adventures. This book has sex and, perhaps, love, but look elsewhere for old- fashioned romance. (DPI) Children's Corner An intriguing tale of a movie star and a psychopath THE FAN by Bob Randall (Random House Reviewed by Holly Hanson A friend who writes letters frequently without expecting replies clearly is a friend to be cherished.

Unless that friend is psychotic. In Bob Randall's novel "The Fan," glamorous but aging movie star Sally Ross is the recipient of stacks of letters, some friendly and others not so, which make up the novel's format. We see her life for a six-month period as she rehearses for a Broadway show and becomes the central figure in a threatened murder. If you can get past the initial disbelief that a small group of persons could exchange so many interesting letters in only six months, "The Fan" is fun to read and consistently intriguing because of the style of revealing information through correspondence. Surprisingly, the characters' personalities come through quite clearly in their letters, Randall does a good job of switching writing styles for each character's letters and consistently maintaining their styles through the novel, The character who undergoes the most disturbing change is Douglas Breen, a young man obsessed with Sally's beauty and charm.

He begins the novel as an overeager fan clamoring for a picture of Sally, and ends it on a much more sinister note. Through Douglas' letters to Sally, and others she exchanges with her ex-husband, agents, friends and relatives, we are introduced to a murderous plot combining a sadistic knifing, menacing figures who hide in subways and some slightly perverted sex. The novel is not quite as impossible to figure put as the jacket blurb would like us to think it is; what is described as a "completely unexpected ending" is only slightly surprising. It would be unfair to give away the ending (the novel is, after all, a mystery), but a parallel exists between the conclusion and one of Alfred Hitchcock's first suspense films. A section of that movie is devoted to a young boy, who unknowingly has taken a package containing a bomb aboard a crowded bus.

Only the audience knows the bomb is set to go off in five minutes. For five agonizing minutes, the audience must wait for the bomb. Finally, when seven minutes have passed, the bomb explodes, killing everyone on the bus. Hitchcock maintains he should not have let the bomb explode. "The boy was involved in a situation that got him too much sympathy from the audience," he has said, "so that when the bomb exploded and he was killed, the public was resentful." Randall has crafted a mystery novel that does much the same thing: it builds up our sympathy for Sally, and then lets the bomb explode.

Ginsburgh: (Continued from page 12) forced to land. The reason I called it a crash landing is because they had to leave it. Your book doesn't explain where Eve came from. Is Adam's rib just another metaphor? The original animal was probably hermaphroditic, like Siamese twins joined at the rib. Adam and Eve were cut apart so they could breed with men.

Your theory gets stranger and stranger. Plato talks about a hermaphroditic animal joined at the ribs. I've got a better idea. What if Eve were "cloned" from Adam's rib? Science is now able to reproduce simple organisms from a few original ceils. God might have scraped 14 April 16,1977 THE HERALD some cells from Adam's rib, and fashioned a new, almost identical being.

It's And it makes much more sense, too, if you look at Genesis. Chapter two, verses 21 and 22: "So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord Cod had taken from the man he made int9 0 woman and brought her to the man." Doesn't that sound like an operation to you, Dr. Ginsburgh? Yes, but my theory requires an operation, too. However, I'm surprised and pleased at your suggestion. It shows you take my theory seriously.

Son now I accuse you, who believes in cosmic surgery, of being a nut, a looney and a crackpot! How do you plead? Dr. Ginsburgh, you leave me no alternative: Guilty. I HAVE A SISTER, MY SISTER IS DEAF by Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson (Harper Row, $4.95, ages 5-8) Reviewed by Dorothy Oliver Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson grew up in Spokane, Washington with a little sister who lived in a silent world. Her sister is deaf. "People who are deaf, or who grew up in families with deaf parents or brothers and sisters, are important to me.

I want to understand their very special culture, their world," she says. Her understanding is apparent in "I Have A Sister, My Sister Is Deaf," a touching, sensitive book written through the eyes of a hearing child as she reflects on her sister's handicap. It is tender, almost poetic as it reveals what it is like to be deaf: "My sister can play the piano. She likes to feel the deep rumbling chords. But she will never be able to sing.

She cannot hear the tune. "My sister can dance with a partner or march in a line. She likes to leap, to tumble, to roll, to climb to the top of the monkey bars. She watches me as we climb. I watch her, too.

She cannot hear me shout 'Look But she can see me swinging her way. She laughs and swings trying to catch my There's no pity in. this book, no sorrowful passages about the plight of the deaf. Instead it is as candid as a young, matter-of- fact child talking in adult-like tones about Local best sellers something that simply "is." "Now my sister has started going to my school, although our mother still helps her speak and lip-read at home. The teacher and children do not understand every word she says, like sister or water or thumb.

Today the children in her room told me, 'Your sister said blue! 1 Well, I heard her say that a long time ago. But they have not lived with my sister for five years the way I The book is written for children between 5 and 8, an age when these curious little people question anything that is different, particularly physical differences. In "My Sister Is they will find a life that is most certainly different but not frightening. They will find that deafness even has some advantages, such as not being awakened by' a rolling thunderstorm and being able to feel sounds as they vibrate through the air. And they will find answers to some of the unasked questions they may have about deafness: "My friends ask me about my little sister.

They ask 'Does it hurt to be I say, her ears don't hurt, but her feelings do when people do not Philadelphia artist Deborah Ray illustrated the book and matched Peterson's sensitivity with soft, expressive drawings of two very loving sisters. "My Sister Is is a valuable book for children who know someone who is deaf and those who don't. It deals with a topic too important to be ignored in children's literature. National OLIVER'S STORY --Segal 1 FALCONER --Chcever 2 HOW TO SAVE YOUR OWN LIFE Jonge 6 RAISE THE TITANIC-- Cussler 7 THE CRASH OF'79 Ecrdman 3 CHANCELLOR MANUSCRIPT Ludlum 5 VAHALLA EXCHANGE --Patterson 8 CONDOMINIUM --MacDonald 9 TRINITY --UriS 3 LANCELOT--Percy Non-Fiction YOUR ERRONEOUS ZONES Dyer 1 PASSAGES: THE PREDICTABLE CRISES OF ADULT LIFE --Sheehy 2 EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ENERGY BUT WERE TO WEAK TO ASK --Hayden ROOTS--Haley THEGAMESIHAN --Maccoby 5 CHANGING --Ullman 4 HAYWIRE--Hayward 6 THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREEN OVER THE SEPTIC TAN Bombeck 7 QUICK HEADACHE RELIEF Kurkland DR. ATKINS'SUPER ENERGY DIET Based on reports from The Book Fair, Books Unlimited.

Kroch's and Brentano's, Sidney Johnson Bookseller, Wit 'N Wisdom, Books and Briars, Walden and Books Etc. Paperbacks THE WARRIORS --Jakes KITE REPORT--Hite 8 THE LONELY LADY-Robbms I MAN CALLED INTREPID--Sevenson GEMINI THE DEEP --Benchley A STRANGER IN THE MIRROR--Sheldon 2 THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL --Levin 9 MOONSTRUCK MADNESS --McBain 10 THE DOCUMENT--Wallace Based on reports from Sidney Johnson Bookseller, Books Unlimited, Wit 'N Wisdom, Walden, Books and Briars, Kroch's and Brentano'b, and Book End. Authentic 9 Why go all the way to England? Make your own brass rubbings here or we will make and frame them for you. By Appointment Only. Call 593-5546 Weekdays After 6 p.m..