Meredith Hall’s memoir was of special interest to me as I am very familiar with Hampton Beach, where the pivotal moment takes place for this All-A, pride of the family student when she has an unfortunate naive sexual encounter on the beach. As naive as I was at her age, the same thing could have happened to me on the night I double-dated with an equally naive friend two sailors on wartime leave. We went to Revere Beach. Luckily my date was not as predatory as Hall’s.
The ensuing story of Hall’s life as she pulls herself up from beatnik poverty to teacher of college litereature is moving and instructive, if a bit disjointed.
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