SUMMIT LAKE: Four Seasons in the Sierras

Summit Lake, in the Sierras not far from Route 80, is the protagonist of this year-long drama, and lesser characters--including the lodgepole pines that surround it, the eastern brook trout seeded from airplanes, the winter snows, and a variety of anonymous human visitors including fishermen, campers and passing litterbugs--are reported upon from a stance of detached omniscience. Heintze's failure to establish a distinct narrative viewpoint can be troubling--how can he know, for example, that one old fisherman who used to visit the lake now lies hospitalized? In short, this has neither the factual depth nor the sharply evocative writing that can give nature reportage a wider appeal; however, the author's sympathetic intentions and affection for the locale merit at least passing interest.