A BOWL OF SOUR CHERRIES

A Yugoslavian-American writer debuts with the story of Anka, who returns from America to her native country--despite evidence of approaching civil war--to rescue her stubborn father from the ""old-folks home"" he has defiantly entered. Anka's journey triggers discordant (and, too often, disorganized) memories of her family and their culture that dominate an essentially shapeless narrative redeemed by intermittent vivid detail and especially by Franklin's affectionate portrayal of Anka's stoic father: A former socialist resistance fighter, he's a feisty, ribald survivor whose hot-blooded mixture of ""extreme romanticism with stubborn idealism"" gives the otherwise baggy first novel revivifying focus and strength.