IT IS STILL THE MORNING

The artist-portrait from boy to man -- with a stylized handling of studied simplicity. It is the story of Georgie, who is just Georgie to his cold father and weak stepmother, but who is Muchilcha to his grandfather, who through childhood has given him the affection, protection and encouragement he needs. His artistic development, through his music and painting, and his emotional development through an early sexual affair with an older woman, and later with a girl who tries to frame him, provides a familiar pattern of growth, conflict and adjustment. Eventually he meets Sonja, a Polish girl, his first real love, and she refuses to marry him until he studies in the city and establishes himself as a painter. There is an interlude of hasty marriage -- then release until he is ready for Sonja. One of these books that -- to carry over -- should have been better done.