At a glance:
- Author: Marijane Meaker
- First Published: 1978
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The mid-1970’s
- Setting: The small, bayside tourist town of Seaville in Upstate New York
- Characters: Buddy Boyle, Skye Pennington, Frank Trenker, Nicholas DeLucca
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Novel
- Subjects: 1970's, Family or family life, United States or Americans, Class conflict, Adolescence, Teenagers, Love or romance, Race, Middle classes, Class consciousness, Ethnic groups, Upper classes
- Locales: United States, New York, North America
Form and Content
Gentlehands is the mild yet effective tale of a teenager’s first experience with love that leads him to a disturbing discovery about his maternal grandfather’s involvement in Nazi war crimes. Set in the mid-1970’s in Seaville, New York, the story is a timeless one in that people have always allowed themselves to be isolated from one another by such self-imposed barriers as money and race. While M. E. Kerr offers readers a frank portrayal of human intolerance and prejudice, few would find the tone of the book to be sermonizing.
The story...
(The entire page is 991 words.)
Want to read the whole thing?
Subscribe now to read the rest of this article. Plus, get access to:
- 30,000+ literature study guides
- Critical essays on more than 30,000 works of literature from Salem on Literature (exclusive to eNotes)
- An unparalleled literary criticism section. 40,000 full-length or excerpted essays.
- Content from leading academic publishers, all easily citable with our "Cite this page" button.
- 100% satisfaction guarantee READ MORE