THE LEAVETAKING

This is the third of McGahern's consummately lyrical short novels which have appeared at intervals in which the old country -- both a state of mind and a commitment of heart -- colors the ""weather"" of the early life of Patrick, the narrator. As does his mother and her slow, wasting death -- the first leavetaking here which sends him on to become a teacher via the Church. The central one however is when he must give up his post, having fallen in love and married outside the faith in London, as he goes back to Ireland for that last time. A gentle, commemorative book, but the experience with which it deals (save for one arrantly outlandish character) is all too perishable.