The Last Of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez

They were assigned as roommates at Barnard College in the late 60's.  No one would have expected them to become friends.  Georgette George never even expected to go to college since no one in her family ever had.  Her family was poor and dysfunctional; that year while she went to college on a full scholarship her younger sister hit the road and disappeared.  Ann Drayton was her exact opposite.  She was the child of wealth, the only child of two highly successful parents and who rejected everything about her background and upbringing.  Ann lived her life totally in opposition to everything around her; everything she saw as unfair.  She was there for the anti-war, anti-society movements such as the SDS, the Black Panthers, etc.  Ann was determined to see justice and equality in the world no matter what it cost and Georgette was the example of everything Ann wanted to make right.

Their lives diverted after college.  Each of them left before graduating.  Ann ended up living with an older man, an African American schoolteacher who made her happy.  Georgette ended up marrying twice and having two children and later in life, going back, graduating and becoming an author.  Ann's life was very different.  She ended up in prison for life, her sentence the result of killing a policeman who shot her boyfriend in a traffic stop incident.  The two women lost touch and lived separate lives yet the memories of their college days were strong in each of them as their later lives unfolded.

Sigrid Nunez has written an interesting portrayal of the late 60's, early 70's when the youth of our country rebelled.  They rebelled against the Vietnam War, against the racial prejudice that permeated our nation, against the inequality that was the way of life.  Inevitably, some learned to accommodate their lives to the society and work to change it from within.  Some were lost forever in their determined approach to change everything around them by whatever means, even violent ones.  This novel was named as a Best Book by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Christian Science Monitor.  It is recommended for readers of literary fiction.