DON'T THE MOON LOOK LONESOME

Asher's first, The Piano Sport (1966, p. 600) was a zesty piece about a young Jewish lad from the East going through all kinds of changes in the Golden City. This one introduces Jules Roman, an older Jewish boy from the East, a tired teacher on permanent leave of absence come to change his fate in (you guessed!) San Francisco. But whereas in the first book the hero tangled with all Rinds of feminine divine, Jules is confronted and confounded by one, the frigid ""dusky Madonna,"" Carmel Brown, also a new arrival. Carmel who fluctuates between ""down home lingo"" and upper Caucasian, is an aspiring poetess and/or singer who is looking for her lost brother Longwell. Carmel comes from an interesting background of rape and incest and she indulges in what Jules considers' ""infantile fantasies""; her motto--""I got to keep on keepin' on."" And she keeps on avoiding Jules' physical attentions (even after he moves in) and wrecking his company's car (Jules has become a consumer researcher). Finally Longwell arrives, a fugitive from the draft and moves in much to Jules' dismay. Jules accidentally turns him over to the cops among the other mistakes he manages in these ghettoized games. The characters are both personable and real but the novel lacks the bouncy riff of the first. It's the sad case of two losers in a hopeless involvement. Much talent. Minimal book.