In a novel which very easily could have promulgated the stereotypes of the beautiful, emotional female and the plain but intellectual male, Mahy has done an admirable job of providing complex portraits of both Angela and Tycho. Both characters combine thinking and feeling in an interesting treatment of the questions of objective validity.

Certain sensitive issues do arise from discussions of drinking, drug use, spousal abuse, and illegitimacy (both as related to Angela's birth and to Africa's pregnancy). With the exception of Angela's illegitimacy, which leads to her quest for her father, these issues are of only minor concern. A more pivotal and potentially more sensitive scene occurs when Angela returns to Tycho's bedroom, bedraggled and disenchanted after her encounter with her father. There, in a sensuous but understated encounter, she and Tycho, both virgins, make love. The actual lovemaking is discreetly left to the imagination...