by William McPherson
FDR is President and the country is pulling out of the Depression as this novel begins. It's about a boy whose father owns a steel mill in a Michigan town, and it is difficult to believe that a book told solely from the viewpoint of a 7-to-9-year-old could be so satisfying. The boy's beloved grandmother dies; the family gathers for Thanksgiving; an older brother teases him and he gets even; Christmas is an orgy of gift-getting; a furnace at the mill explodes, killing three men; the narrator's beautiful mother is seeing too much of another man. Summer is a cottage on a river island with golf lessons at the country club. An older boy explains sex in astonishing detail, yet it still makes no real sense. The climax is a magnificent 25th anniversary party that the boy's parents give themselves. McPherson, a Washington Post columnist, has combined these events, from the trivial to the tragic, into a beautiful first novel that provides a sharp, glowing portrait of a Midwestern town on the eve of World War II. McPherson's loving attention to detail and the boy's funny, moving point of view keep the writing constantly fresh and involving. (Simon and Schuster, $15.95)
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