August 29, 2005 Nelcott is not my darling Innocent McGill student gets caught up in romance with huge jerk Say you have this friend. She's a sweet kid, charming and innocent. She has a boyfriend. He treats her like crap and makes her miserable. But she loves him. You want him to die, or you at least want to smirk at the back of his head after she tells him to hit the road. Does this sound familiar? Well, that's what reading Golda Fried's Nelcott is my Darling is like. Alice, the main character, is your adorable friend. Nelcott is the boyfriend that you can't stand. The book is filled with familiar scenarios. Fried, a former McGill student, has set the story in Montreal. Alice is in her first year at McGill and adjusting to being away from her over-protective parents for the first time. You know the type—naïve, impressionable, virgin-like, doesn't know how to do laundry. She reminds me of an old roommate who I once caught trying to open a cardboard cylinder of frozen juice with a can opener. It's hard to be aggravated by people like this because there is something about them that is so endearing. Alice moves through her first semester in a rather bewildered state, making new friends in residence and in the film club, while trying to stay connected to old ones, one of which doesn't understand her and the other who seems slightly indifferent. She meets Nelcott at a party on the Plateau. "It's so weird," he tells her. "I never like hippie girls with sandals." "What's wrong with sandals? Who are you?" Alice responds. This, unfortunately, is the start of a new relationship that you are anxious to end. Nelcott is neurotic and uncouth. He's less than understanding about Alice's virginal status. He pulls stunts such as throwing Alice's warm coat into a tree where she can't reach it in the middle of winter and burning her with a cigarette. Allegra, a friend of Alice's, meets him for the first time when Alice takes her to a party at his place. Within 10 minutes of meeting him, Allegra wants to leave. Despite the inner chorus of "Dump him, dump him!" the reader gets to watch Alice grow. She begins to recognize when she's not being treated with respect and begins to see that she deserves more than what she gets from some people. She begins to become more familiar with whom she is and what it's like to be away from the place where you grew up. She adjusts to her new life. With everything she's learned, you can be confident that she won't put up with an asshole like Nelcott ever again. by Saraline Grenier Website © Golda Fried. / All rights reserved.