The Third Child - Marge Piercy

I haven’t read anything else by Piercy, and can only imagine I bought this novel because of the blurb.
Melissa Dickson is the third, and unsatisfactory, child of a would-be political dynasty. Former Philadelphian prosecutor Dick is a Senator, mother Rosemary has turned her back on her less prestigious family and devoted her life and intellect to his career (ably assisted by a stream of aides, most recently the worshipful Alison), and her siblings are all at least satisfactory – Richard IV (Rich) is getting married to the blonde and bland Laura (daughter of a prominent backer) and is looking at state rep candidature; perfect, golden Merilee is following in her father’s footsteps at law school, and younger brother Billy is a little wild but attractive.
For as long as Melissa can remember she’s been less than, in need of improvement, unacceptable. The only family members she can relate to are her younger brother, who’s growing away from her, and her father’s sister Karen – and Karen’s been locked up in a sanatorium for the last five years.
Merilee had to attend a college in state, because Rosemary didn’t want her too far from home, but Lissa’s heart is set on Wesleyan, in part because it’s close to her best friend Emily’s family, and Merilee convinced Rosemary that a little freedom would do her good.
The novel follows Lissa from her final year at school, amid the drama of Rich and Laura’s wedding, through her first year at college. Although Lissa initially enjoys classes, in particular English with professor Gregory Romfield, she soon meets Blake, the mixed-race son of apparently unknown parentage who was adopted by a liberal Jewish couple and raised with their children. Like her, Blake feels estranged from his family. He says that he was never treated like the Ackerman’s other kids, and that not knowing his heritage eats away at him.
Their connection is immediate, visceral, and soon Lissa is consumed by it. Blake fills the empty neediness in a way she dreamed her family could; he makes her feel attractive, womanly rather than chubby, as though she is fine the way she is, and he tells her that her desire to hurt (just in a small way) her family, for not seeing that she matters, is not only understandable but acceptable. She shows him her weekly emails from Rosemary, which consist primarily of directives on how to behave and who to associate with, and he hacks into Rosemary’s emails to Rich and Merilee – to Lissa they looks very much more like letters to peers, and fuel Lissa’s indignation. She helps find information on her father that a friend of Blake’s can use in articles critical of him.
It is a tribute to Piercy’s ability that Lissa is believably unable to see the inevitable, oncoming disaster – the way she avoids seeing Blake’s inconsistencies and real agenda, particularly in light of her naiveté and truly misunderstood upbringing, are credible even when the truth of his parentage and the unavoidable fact that he has lied come out.
Despite that I found finishing The Third Child somewhat arduous. Lissa’s parents, and the sycophantic Alison were shallow to the point of parody, and wholly divorced from the reality of Melissa’s life (when Rich and Laura’s son is born Rosemary tells Lissa to come to the hospital for a photo op. When Lissa says that it’s the middle of exams, Rosemary tells her that the professors will understand).
The plot is a little laboured, there were a couple of secondary plots that didn’t really go anywhere, and although Billy’s attitudinal change was necessary to advance the plot (by increasing Lissa’s reliance on Blake when yet another ally abandons her) it is unexplained. - Alex