published 1998; hardback 1998, Tor Books

I keep thinking that I should like Pamela Dean's books. There are many things about her work that I do like, such as her vivid writing style and her amusing (though slightly unbelievable) characters. Like other books that I have read by Dean, including Tam Lin and The Secret Country, Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary ultimately disappointed me, with its lack of plot and inability to fulfill my interest.

Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary are three sisters in a rather ordinary family. The story focuses on the middle daughter, Gentian, a budding young astronomer. Gentian's life revolves around observing celestial phenomena and hanging out with her clique of girlfriends, the Giant Ants. I liked Dean's depiction of the interactions among the girls who make up the Giant Ants; they were very true to life and made me remember what it was like to be that age.

Things change for Gentian, however, when an intriguing new boy named Dominic moves in next door. Dominic dresses like Hamlet and talks like Bartlett's Quotations; he nevers makes his own observations, but speaks entirely in cryptic non-sequiturs. He also makes sexist and racist comments to Gentian and her friends, and tries to break up friendships among the Giant Ants. Incredibly, rather than knocking Dominic into the middle of next week, Gentian gets a crush on him. This might not be so unusual, except that Dean has gone to great lengths to show Gentian as a young feminist (she and her friends dress up as female scientists and writers for Halloween) and one of the Giant Ants is African-American, so I find it hard to believe that Gentian would tolerate Dominic's behavior.

Dominic's avowed intent is to build a time machine in the attic of the house belonging to Gentian's family, with the help of the three sisters. This seems to be the main plot, but it doesn't get off the ground until more than three-fourths of the way through the book. Until then, the story reads much like a typical young adult novel, focusing on Gentian's thoughts about school, boys, her family, and her friends. It's hard to remember that this book is supposed to be a fantasy. Pages and pages are spent describing Gentian's thoughts about Shakespeare plays she is reading for school; this was eminently boring, even though I've read the plays in question. The end of the book approaches.

Then, suddenly, the ending explodes into a big magical event that was never sufficiently foreshadowed and is never adequately explained. I won't go into it, not just because I don't like to give away endings in my reviews, but because I didn't understand it anyway. I feel like there was some big point I was supposed to take away from Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary, but all I got was a feeling of irritation.

Review by Sara Lipowitz
Reviewed August 12, 1998

ISBN 0-312-86004-8

See other reviews of Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary at Amazon.com