Review: A Variety of Men Coming to Grips with Maturity
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 8, 2012
Lewis Koufax knows the territory about which he writes and it shows_ he has the language of an era down pat, he makes significant statements about class and ethnic groups emerging from the human rights movement, and he explores the facets of friendship among three seemingly disparate youths stepping into manhood form their Freshman year of college. It is a novel filled with warm humor, tenderness, and insights into the age-old coming of age genre of novel.Three young men meet as they enter their first year of college in California in 1969: Darius is an African American brilliant scholar, Lenny is a white lad from a moneyed and privileged family who sees his future as a stand up comedian, and Stan is a Hispanic kid on scholarship from a poor rural background. How these three adapt not only to each other as roommates, but also as members of a changing society that is conflicted about the gradual change in American military thinking (Vietnam and the threat of the draft, the invasion of Cambodia, etc) and the gradual rise in student awareness and resistance to those situations. Toss in the flavors of the day in music, the Beatles, dysfunctional student behavior including a suicide, and the expected flow of testosterone interference with calm thinking and Koufax has nailed the period. The writing is always entertaining if not always terribly imaginative in style. But this is a solid read, and tasty enough to make the reader want to explore the other books available by this author. Grady Harp, November 12