SOURCE: A review of The Lost Father, in Belles Lettres, Vol. 7, No. 2, Winter, 1991-92, pp. 56-57.

In the following review of The Lost Father, Berch finds flaws in the novel's repetition and lack of focus.

The Lost Father, by Mona Simpson, which might have been titled The Lost Daughter, is the story of Mayan Stevenson's search for the father who abandoned her. Nothing else in her life—her career, her relationship—will go forward until she can solve this mystery of who her father is, where he is, and why he left her.

That this effort, which consumes thousands of dollars and miles, does not seem unjustified is some indication of how dysfunctional this father-problem has made our heroine. She spends most of the novel starving herself, running up unpayable long-distance bills by talking to childhood friends, debating with herself about the detective she hires, failing at her...