[The Late Great Me] is centered on a problem rather than on empathetic characters. Geri Peters counts herself among the "freaks" in high school. Her mother keeps urging the girl to make friends with the popular crowd and is overjoyed when Geri announces she has a date. So is Geri, for her squire is handsome Dave Townsend, a new boy who passes up the girls in the "in" crowd. The girl's triumph, however, leads to disaster. For Dave introduces Geri to the world of booze. Before you can say AA, she's nipping from a stashed bottle in her closet at home and another in her school locker. Not scandal, blackouts, hangovers nor even the death of Dave's alcoholic mother slow Geri's compulsive drinking. That takes the author's too pat resolution and a sympathetic teacher.

A review of "The Late Great Me," in Publishers Weekly (reprinted from the November...