THE LAND THAT TOUCHES MINE

A novel which parallels present and past in the story of Stanley Clarke, now a deserter and on the road in California where he is picked up by Jean Bell, a road-house waitress. Stanley's indecision leads to some pretty glum self- examination and shows up the origins of his despair in an orphanage childhood, in the betrayal of a friend there which left a lasting guilt, in his love for Ann who suicided. Now, his escape from the Army is in reality an escape from himself; Jean takes him to the border- and he crosses into Mexico only to return, and it is Jean who saves him from himself by turning him in.... Life is pretty real and earnest around here; but Sanford intones his high thoughts (""I'm only a glass-bottom bedpan"") at a lower language level and the four letter word is a poor medium at best for all his restive searching.