CHUCK

Chronicles in the life of a young son of a Florida corn farmer that have in them the breath of life and its problems and humor that people found in The Yearling or in Daniel Doan's The Crystal Years- a first novel published last year. (P. 521). The chapters are like short sketches in themselves, but their threads of connection in the characters and the remembrances of everyday events are ample lure for readers who shy away from the episodic. The first is of thirteen year old Chuck's victory over a siege of polio that is won by his determination to care for a new pet. When his older brother Frank, a disturbed war veteran, appears to shirk farm work, Chuck's anger is assuaged by his father's explanation of Frank's troubled mind. A splendid passage, devoid of sentiment, describes the humor and conveys the pathos of a visit from Chuck's blind cousin. In a style that mirrors both land and people- a book that is immediate and in its directness, reflective of the true feelings of humans.