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THE WAY OF AN EAGLE by Dan Potter Kirkus Star

THE WAY OF AN EAGLE

By

Pub Date: Feb. 4th, 1969
Publisher: Stein & Day

The book has a much charisma as its hero, Buddy Sumday, ""No past, no future, just a present for you. . ."" who comes riding out of the hills on a white motorcycle with a black dove, quoting Matthew 5:9 and reaching out to anyone who needs help or hope. This is his story as told by the townspeople who are affected by him. . . Harry, the gas station owner who finds himself giving him a job; Reba, the cafe owner who is taken in by more than just motherly instinct; Mittie, the town's local bad girl who believes that he is the reincarnation of James Dean; Dick, back from Vietnam with a secret despair and a lacerating hate; Lora, the rich girl used to power, afraid of all the uncertainties that Buddy represents. And Buddy remains an enigma, a dusty white knight popping bennies and smoking pot and trying to get through, not only to the sick souls that finally descend on him but to the galloping inner insecurities that make him run. The author does an excellent job of exposing small town nerve endings and manages to say a great deal about contemporary frustration and fear. And Buddy Sumday is one of the nicest blighted angels to cross the American literary landscape in some time.