SOURCE: Kendall, Elaine. “Where Reality Outpaced Fiction: A Novel on the Steinberg Case.” Los Angeles Times (10 February 1989): section 5, E1.

In the following review, Kendall faults Waverly Place for its inaccurate portrayal of drug addiction and its neglect of available information on the Steinberg murder case.

First out of the gate in an inevitable commercial sweepstakes, Susan Brownmiller's version of the Steinberg case is presented as fiction, though recapitulation might be a more precise description of her method. Beginning to write on the day the Steinberg child died from head injuries inflicted by the man who had so casually “adopted” her, Brownmiller says, “I wanted the freedom to invent dialogue, motivations, events and characters based on my own understanding of battery and abuse.”

Drawing heavily upon the lore collected for her impassioned study of rape, Against Our Will, Brownmiller struggles to make this case fit a precast mold too...