More a character study than a fully realized novel, Gypsy Davey centers on an enigmatic mentally handicapped boy and his dysfunctional family. Although themes of escape, despair, responsibility and irresponsibility, and need appear, the emphasis is on the characterizations of Davey and his family members, who include his seventeen-year-old married sister Joanne, their divorced parents, Lois and "Sneaky Pete," and Joanne's infant son. The characters are shown across the span of several years, from the time Davey is a little boy and his sister is forced to take care of him until the present time, when Joanne is an uninvolved mother and twelve-year-old Davey tries to take care of her baby, Dennis.

All the characters are well realized, though only two garner much sympathy from the reader. Davey has a mental disability that is never disclosed. His sister calls him a "retard" at one...