CATHERINE CARMIER

This curiosity withdrawn novel of involuted passion concerns a Creole family in contemporary Louisiana. Ringed about by racial tension, although he considers his family neither white nor Negro, Raoul stands alone as the whites take over Negro land, working hard ""trying to keep up with them."" Devoted to her father, fearing the walls of hate behind which one must share an allegiance to white or black, his daughter Catherine cannot leave him although she is loved by Jackson, just returned from the North. Also staining the past is the strange death of the boy Mark, dark skinned son of Raoul's wife Della. In a bloody fight between Jackson and Raoul, Della learns to Raoul's guilt and in a rush of pity, supports the weakened Raoul. Representing the confusion and bitterness implicit in the idea of ""being one thing or the other,"" sister Lillian fights to leave the twilight world of the Creole; Madame Bayonne stays with the resignation of the elderly; and Jackson's devoted aunt seeks strength for a terrifying future. Despair, torment and frustration overhang the scene like a static and oppressive high noon, but the mood is furthered, unfortunately, by the uniform dreariness of the characters. Still a promising first try.