ON THE WAY TO THE SKY

Once the initial irritation against reading another initiation-into-manhood novel is overcome, this uncompromising and quirky novel exerts the same kind of fascination Geo and Little Benny feel in the presence of Louis Light as he brings the ways of the city to their quiet Mormon town. The book is as much about the Light mystique (as seen in usually but not necessarily chronological segments about Louis, his father, and grandfather) as it is about growing up: friendship (particularly of Louis and Geo), peculiar tests of courage (bronco-busting), and the solipsism of adolescent sexual adventures that binds rather than destroys friendship. The seemingly haphazard interspersal of past and present in almost essay-like fashion (""The Light Method: Part Three -- The Faults of Perfection. 1953"") duplicates the way old acts return to haunt the present, dead in time for a while but cropping up when one least expects it.