Intermission — Calvin Tomkins

A first novel which projects, with some indirection, the troubled, tentative relationships which exist between Elliot and Jay Whittaker, brothers, Elliot and his oldest friend, Roger Faxon, and Camilla Onez de la Torre, who married Roger but left her imprint on both Elliot and Jay. For Jay, who tells the story, responds with a naive admiration to Camilla, in her late thirties, whose alien fascination is a mature one, while Elliot conceals his lack of immunity to Camilla in an overt hostility. And at intervals, First in Banta Fe, then New York, then New Jersey where Elliot submits to the predictable, protected pattern of a social marriage, these four meet again and again, witness the weak integration of Hoger, question the doubtful influence of Camilla whose charm also corrupts... A story which reflects a first exposure to experience with a fresh awareness and talent. Kirkus Review