THE ROAD PAST ALTAMOUNT

Gabrielle Roy has written several earlier books, which, like this one, imply autobiographical experience through that of a young French-Canadian girl. She touches on universals with a certain uncomplicated charm. This latest book consists of four minimal episodes with more important implications as Christine experiences her grandmother's death, takes an excursion with an elderly Frenchman to Lake Winnipeg, witnesses ""The Move"" of a poor family from one shack to another, and in the last one, as an adult, discusses some of the intangibles-- life, death and travel-- with her mother when she is about to leave her. This one entails a much larger theme-- the soul's solitary journeys from place to place, from childhood to death, from innocence to knowledge. It is the kind of book which is likely to go unnoticed although the fragility of the material is actually quite deceptive and it suggests more than it says.