Book Review

TANGLE WITH THE LAW

Ayelet Waldman, author of the "Mommy Track" mystery series, ventures into
the complex world of mother-daughter dynamics in "Daughter's Keeper"
(Sourcebooks Landmark, 352 pp., $24), a look at the power of love and the
powerlessness of those caught up in the criminal-justice system.

Waldman, who graduated from Harvard Law School, once worked for the Federal
Public Defender's office in Los Angeles. Currently, the Berkeley resident,
mother of four and wife of author Michael Chabon serves as a consultant to
the Drug Policy Alliance. The heart and soul of this story clearly stems
from her experience in seeing the inequities of drug law enforcement.
Sometimes, the plot drifts into didactics, but overall, it is a quick,
engaging and eye-opening read.

Elaine, a middle-aged, middle-class pharmacist who is newly engaged, lives
a sensible, carefully-planned life. Her 22-year-old daughter, Olivia, seems
determined to make her own life decisions in direct opposition to her
mother's values. Dropping out of college, Olivia travels to Mexico and has
a brief affair with a student activist named Jorge who follows her back to
America. Unable to find employment, Jorge becomes one of the many young men
who has illegally crossed the border and now waits outside of lumberyards
hoping for a day's wages.

Desperate for money, Jorge agrees to a drug deal. Olivia's unwitting
complicity brings her into a morass of legal entanglements. When DEA agents
break into her apartment, Olivia quickly turns into her mother's daughter:

"Olivia rested her head against the seat and closed her eyes. She had an
almost overwhelming urge to roll down the window and call out that they'd
made a mistake, they'd confused her with someone else. She wasn't a
crackhead from the ghetto. She wasn't an uneducated criminal. She'd been in
all the AP classes at Berkeley High; she'd been to college. She had a
mother and an almost stepfather and grandparents in New Jersey. She wanted
to wave her arm in front of the agent's face like a flag and shout, 'Look,
I'm a white girl. See?' "

Her mother is caught in her own entanglements -- whether to support her
now-pregnant daughter despite their tenuous relationship, or follow the
path of love and comfort promised by her fiance.

The end is a bit predictable. But Waldman, who has a passion for both her
characters and her politics, does an admirable job of humanizing a law that
has had a negative impact on untold thousands of lives.