FRANCIS GOES TO THE SEASHORE

Don't be misled by the title--or the subtitle: ""The Second Pillow Book of Francis Reeves."" True, Francis Reeves--the aging New York homosexual whose quiet joys and uncommonly good heart made Landscape with Traveler (1980) a diverting fictional diary--does appear here. . . for about two dozen pages. (He reports on his reading, on going to see Baryshnikov, on a new harpsichord he's bought, on ship models he's recently assembled.) The rest? Well, most of this opportunistic and meretriciously assembled book actually consists of the boyhood memories of Francis' straight friend Jim--dull reminiscences which themselves have been previously published in an earlier, small-press Gifford novel. And after these are duly reprinted, both Francis and Jim are whisked off to make room for a tedious imaginary traveldiary by Swiss painter August Macke, followed by an aimless portrait of a hopeless london hippie named Ace Saturnalia. A casserole of unworthy fictional leftovers, in fact--thrown together, fraudulently packaged, and thoroughly skippable.