THE CLEARING

by Alan Arkin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 1986

This well-plotted follow-up to Arkin's popular The Lemming Condition is rich in characterization and earthy, humorous dialogue. However, it may make readers feel as if they are participating in a kind of spiritual group-therapy session. The Clearing is a community for animal misfits; soul-wrenching experience has led each animal to seek help here. It is presided over by the Bear, a combination parent-figure, shrink, guru, and mentor. He hints at answers but lets the animals discover self-truth, exhorting them to find the ""lion"" within themselves. When the Bear leaves the Clearing, consternation is felt and near disaster results. Ultimately, each animal decides to leave the Clearing to share his or her higher consciousness with the larger forest community. The Clearing's clients include Marion, the duck, whose belief in her ""lion"" and in the Bear's power and good-will never fade; Russell, the snake, who learns to slither happily rather than roll painfully while shedding some of his more unpleasant reptilian qualities; Bubber, the lemming, who becomes a true ""lion"" when he nearly sacrifices his life to save a friend; and Romo, the cougar, the toady, coward and bully of the bunch. His seizure of power and his misuse of it almost destroy the community. There are many recognizable devices of eclectic psychotherapy here: dream interpretation; zero, or the circle, as the perfect example of emotional health; the Bear's seeming unresponsiveness and his ""August vacation""; self-actualization; finding one's own space. This tends to make the story seem a bit formulaic, somehow too close to human, adult experience, and not imaginative or allegorical enough. Nevertheless, readers will want to know the fate of the characters, and will receive some important messages concerning the need to cultivate and maintain individuality in a conformist human jungle.

Pub Date: Feb. 26, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION