When the two meet beneath the boardwalk in Atlantic City one summer afternoon-Bertie wailing for the mother and aunt she has somehow misplaced, Cee Cee trying to sleep off the effects of the midnight act at Jerry Grey's Kiddie Show-it is as if each believes herself rescued. Bertie White is a wan seven-year-old from Pittsburgh, in whom caution and longing combine to insure a lifetime of disappointment. Cee Cee Bloom is a brassy 10-year-old from the Bronx, in whom the voice of Streisand, the mouth of Fran Leibowitz, the hair of Harpo Marx, and a wardrobe of sequined leotards combine to presage a star. That she does not quite succeed has a lot to do with her failure to develop the two friends equally-and given the power of her stronger character, it's an almost understandable failure. Iris Rainer Dart (The Boys in the Mail Room, 1979) comes very close in Beaches to writing a serious book about improbable, enduring friendship.
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