THE WINGS ARE GONE

Rod McKuen, shove over! Quitting his lifeguard/surf bum/dolce vita existence, the author flies to Sioux City for a job interview and the beginning of a new serious lifestyle. Only thing is, he sleeps through the stopover (and his connection) in Chicago, and ends up in the early a.m. in Kansas City with barely a penny in his pocket. All is not lost, however, for his obliging stewardess takes him home for what turns out to be a week of mute glances, bad poetry, Velveeta cheese (she's broke too), and endless ponderings of the meaning of life. (Anyone over sixteen may skip the latter.) They agree to marry and he goes back to his folks in LA to look for work; she dies in a plane crash a few days later. The book, which is written as a novel, is so heavy-handed it could pass for satire were it not for the apparently sincerely anguished author's total lack of self-consciousness. Embarrassing.