The two main characters in Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, Gwen Mati and Larry Diamond, are given the roles of student and teacher. Gwen obviously needs to learn. At twenty-nine, she is insecure, class and image conscious, and career-driven. She is ashamed of her friend Q-Jo's weight, her Filipino father's lifestyle, and her mother's suicide. Her relationship with her boyfriend is passionless and dull.

Regrettably, Gwen values only money and what it can buy. The ticking of her biological clock does not make her long for motherhood. Robbins writes, "it is not babies you want to make, it's cash.

You long to swell up with a pregnancy of moola and expel silver dollars like a slot machine." Gwen does not appreciate relationships; instead, she concentrates her attention on designer suits, luxury cars, and large portfolios of stocks, bonds, and real estate holdings.

With the collapse of the stock...