Evening star., 1927-06-12

! sions The army is the field opening
| before him, with service in India
according to the tradition of his fam
| lily. But this boy is not a soldier. not
of the military caste. Some incon-
| siderate ancestor has made Il poet and
dreamer of the fellow. The situa-
| tion is, then, that of a family drawn
up III opposition to the nature and
desires of Philip Queste. The story
concerns itself largely with the break
| ing away of Philip Queste from the
| family law and tradition. 1t is the
adventure of youth, romantic and
| visionary in it's dreams, trying to deal
with a world given to realities and not
to dreams: to plain practices, not to
QuiXotlc experiments. And the end
of the matter is that, the story fin
, ished, the young man finally meets
| the world as il is, but meets it as well
in the spirit of his high optimism, in
the spirit of his faith in life and hui
manity. An uncommonly well con-
ceived adventure in life. itself. and
novel that is projected both convinc'
ingly and beautifully. An undimin-
! lshed pleasure goes along with the
| reading of a truly exceptional novel
upon subject of substance and sig
| nificance.
PROGRESSIVE MARRIAGE, BY
Bonnie Busch, author of Eager
Vines" etc. New York: w. j.
Watt & Co.
THE loose yoke of modern matri
mony, so easy to shift from one
pair of shoulders to another in expert
ments of marital teamwork, has been
worth everything to the novelist. And
the story tellers are making much of
this new Vein It is generally con-
ceded that the novel of pure romance,
of adolescent love, has suffered com
plete eclipse by these grown-up expert
ences on the part of the mismated.
Progressive Marriage" is tale of
the new order. Boredom, lack of con.
Seniality, Vanity-male and female
idleneSs, discomfort, the too easy life.
such are the elements entering here
to project the modern problem of
marriage. The course of the story,
believable course as we'll as a gilt.
tering one. indicates, by it's climax,
that the author has in mind the point
ing of moral to adorn this nara
tive, that the matter is of a nature
to bring pause to the business of
breaking family into pieces. Ger
tainly the motive is a highly worthy
one, though upon reflection it must
be after all a. bit discouragin for
just between you and me, who ever
did see a family bond, once entirely
broken that was ever really mended
so it was as good as new" Such
Clues and cements are fine for crock
cry and other wares, but. as yet, they
fail in doing away with all of the
signs of the tragic family cleavage.
Good story, though, for the author
has looked after construction and per-
sonalities and action here, whatever
may be her private opinion of the
quality of the sermon itself.
X X X
RUTH'S REBELLION. BY Achmed
Abdullah, author of "Shackled, !"
etc. New York: George H. Doran
Co.
A CHMED ABDULLAH is as occi-
n dentally up-to-date as John Smith.
despite his name and a background of
Oriental birth and culture and ancient
Semitic ancestry. 1t takes some time
to get over Achmed Abdullah's name
with it's eastern connotations. And
one has to get over it. in this case at
least. for here is a novel based upon
the latest minute of the modern social
fronting upon matrimony and its