SOURCE: Oldham, Gerda. Review of The Last Resort, by Alison Lurie. Antioch Review 57, no. 1 (winter 1999): 109-10.

In the following review, Oldham provides an overview of the plot and characters of The Last Resort.

Key West, the “last resort” of the novel [The Last Resort], is the place where characters in Lurie's tale meet; some of them are year-round residents like Jacko, a gardener who has just learned that he is HIV-positive, Molly Hopkins, who did covers for the New Yorker in the good old days, and Lee Weiss, an ex-psychologist who now runs a B. & B. for women. “Having been a therapist came in useful, Lee said, when neighbors or guests got difficult. It's simple, she had explained. All you do is, you just repeat the last thing they said, and it makes them think you're sympathetic and sort of defuses the situation.” Others are there for a...