ORPHANS

This begins with an inset on the pre-and-post Sophomore (Spacks' 1968 novel) experiences of one Bruno Stamm mostly dealing in a breezy, quixotic fashion with the girls he would like to make but doesn't feel very strongly about. But then Bruno lost his parents early on in a turnpike accident and he has the orphan's disease here spelled out as the failure to care. But when he goes to Korea he becomes attached really for the first time to another orphan -- a 12 year-old destitute Korean kid who becomes their unofficial houseboy -- they call him Prof. He teaches him to read and draw and buys him a cowboy suit; he also thinks of adopting him permanently when Prof is put off the base and in retaliation throws a grenade before he disappears. . . altogether. You'll like Bruno and Prof and there's the instant susceptibility of an incident which could easily have been just like this although as a novel it should have been more.