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'Comprom a satiri< oy nenry ureen Compromising Positions by Susan Isaacs; Jove; $2.25 Compromising Positions, by Susan Isaacs, titillating a cover as it does a title ? a i feminine, shapely legs which are kicking in a s way. suggestive Derhans of some snft-nnrn i cher. And certainly Compromising Positions c< its share of love-sex scenes, but the book c< more substance than the title and the cover suggest. Not only is it a tightly woven myst volving the attempts of a Long Island house solve the murder of a periodontist, but it is satire on the mundane lifestyle of suburbai Island, where the residents wallow in the dome of split-levels and colonials and where PTA me grocery stores and social clubs knit these rej together in a close community. In such a snug and friendly community, the r of the local periodontist seems more than a lil of place, and its incongruity piques the curic the housewife in question, a suburban Jewisl cess named Judith Singer. Judith is 34 yea intelligent enough to qualify as a doctoral car at NYU and witty enough to be a delightfully p narrator. She is also a housewife's housewife, caugh doing various and sundry day-to-day task: meeting her four-year-old son's bus from n school and making triangular peanut butter ar ?c? u: ? ?? * - ? aauuwiluca iui vim, hoi iu meiiiiun serving an her public-relations man husband. Mr. Singt feminist's bugaboo with all the sensitivit thoughtfulness of a lamp post. As a cliche chauvinist pig, he is one of the book's v characters. What jars Judith from this placid life in the 1 two-car garages is the murder of the neighb< dentist. She learns to her dismay that the li many of her neighbors are not as bland as s assumed them to be, and as hers is. It seems tl late dentist has been carrying on affairs with rr the neighborhood ladies, housewives like h 8 _ i I tin sai THBDOOBTE | [77 BROTHERS <Minute By Minute Includes Hei*>TtoIxjvpYou What A FV)ol Belirvea/ Depend in'On Ycu ^ I Classical S RTA Da -*~tr ising Positions zol cornivol taking pictures of them engaging in various kinky sex like S&M and then threatening to b the unfortunate women. The dentist himself has as involved in a pornography ring, and th< 3air of suspects for his murder is almost endless. ;ensual Judith then begins to carry on her *yecat- vestigation of the murder, seeking the res Dntains housewives would fall for a scoundrel like F )ntains and let him take advantage of them. As sh would more and more deeply, she begins to realize ery in- stifling tedium of suburban life has led the wife to housewives to seek a drastic outlet for their f ll -1 U! -I- A. 1 __ ? - * also a ?*" uuuei wnicn ineir marriages cannot i Long Judith finds herself in the same position, anc isticity investigation of the murder, an investigate etings, allows her to use her mind for a change, a sidents her into the arms of a police officer, a man v out to be her own fantasy outlet. nurder Whether this novel was intended to be a ttle out with a generous helping of satire throw sity of whether the mystery was simply an excus h prin- satire, is hard to say. The book as a murder rs old, is well-done, but the cream in the coffee ! ididate promising rosiuons is tne neroine's wise ungent humor. Miss Isaacs, through Judith, poke boring marital sex, anti-Semitism, "dream t up in and upper-middle-class pretentiousness, s, like Compromising Postitions bites particular] ursery in its criticism of middle-class notions of id jelly fidelity. Judith, for example, is uneasy wh< iner to having lunch with a man who is not her husbs ?r is a though the man is just a good friend. Is M: y and being faithful to Judith, though, when he sta; i male the office and spends more time with his w veaker public relations man than with her? He is love to his press releases as well as to his wif< land of Thus, underneath the satire in Compi orhood Positions some good questions are asked, ves of presenting a clever whodunit and delicious , , U 1. -I ? r ' * ' ne nas UIC gives us a classic comroniauon Dei tiat the unhappy wife's sense of responsibility to her lany of anc* her longing for (the word has become ; erself, fulfillment. pourri !e March 2-8 j chic | mmm .V . I [ ." r /. 7-r-V:V:-~'r--^7 L^h- >'i-? -~31'1 hrbp hll fflyps .uOft I m , "..id.. i t hKtAK I WANT YOUR LOVE NX,^i$ WP* ale on all d Seal j mm00 "SOUNDS DELICIOV. . . ,,.<m*?<&^^ .. Dutch Square , Columbia Mall Wool f i * I i kinds of lackmail has been b list of | own in- 1 isons the ml leckstein e probes i that the \ unnappy antasies, provide. \JT I her own on which n in, or ] mystery y for Com- | V cracking % '\ A ? fun at ,TT ly deeply jjlg marital Q jHl 1P1| en she is H W V #l^ mdI, even W/l r. dinger ? ? ys late at H orkasa K Q QA making JM- OUO/1 romising ^ Besides > humor, ween the A JO\ husband a cliche) > I DIRE STRAITS Includes Down To The Waterlirv^ Setting Me Up Sultans Ol Swing Wild West End Is, LPs TT H Plus 20% ? Ml Memorex B 1hill Mall br\ ?e 7 i litfons N ISAACS ? j 'E/HBJ BOOK | 1 1 mi mi 111" i' i .r s I off I lank Tapes I H? HKSH I i|j|r rffiffi'M I