Sharing her story in an emotional, occasionally sardonic, first-person narrative, Rita is a strong protagonist. At eighteen years of age and just out of high school, Rita has decided that she wants to become a writer and will not need college to achieve her goal. This unusual decision seems in keeping with her personality. She has always felt different from kids her age—"a klutz, a fatty, an oddball, a failure, and a freak"— and has endured humiliations from both teachers and classmates throughout her school years. Her choice of a mate is equally iconoclastic. She is in love with thirty-fouryear-old Arnold Bromberg, an idealistic but irresponsible dreamer almost as old her parents. The story of their courtship and eventual marriage is related in a novel that deals with themes of love, responsibility, individuality, and family connections.

Love is certainly the element...