THE SHORTEST, GLADDEST YEARS
By
A story told from four different points of view is unified by the fact that each of the young man involved attends the same New England men's college and each, in different years, falls in love with a Vassar girl named Tina. Harray is a Jew from the Bronx, Kevin comes from Philadelphia, Martin is ambitious and Anson is wealthy. They meet, influence one another, are influenced in turn by Tina, and toward the end of their senior year splinter in four different directions. The author keeps them characteristic of their types but never steprotypes, and if ""bright young man"" conversations occasionally teeter on the edge of glibness, there are also real insights and a serious purpose. Sex and alcohol proliferate, but they are an integral part of this kind of story and are true to character. It is a ""clever"" first novel of college life, and more than just another documentary.