Evening star., 1937-05-22

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picture is merely drawn in; Mr.. Eaton
has made no comment whatsoever on
it.
The book puts one in mind inescapa-
bly, Of Maugham's "Of Human Bond
age" 1t is not comparably great;
1t falls short OF the older novel in
many ways. Particularly it is not
universal In its applicability; it is
not OF human bondage; it is OF the
bondage OF a group, an age and a
country. But within those limits it
does much the same thing. Its writing
Is sometimes sketchy; its style is
plain journalism. But there is a
solidity about it which must command
respect. Among works which celebrate
postwar behavior it deserves an
honorable place.
LOVERS. BY Gina Klaus. Translated
from the German by June Head.
New York: The Macmillan Co.
THIS exceptionally intelligent novel
= is the story Of two pairs of lovers
who changed partners. If that sounds
uneventful, there Is something more
to it; the plot is built on the theme
that the human creatures longing for
spiritual union is impossible OF full
| fllment.
To demonstrate this concept the
author has employed the device Of
making three Of the quartet tell their
own versions Of their emotional en-
tanglements to the fourth, and, while
it is substantially the same story that
is told each time, the three versions
| differ utterly. Yet all three narrators
speak with complete sincerity. The
story which they tell, in each case, is
the story of what they have wished to
believe.
Chance then places the truth in the
| hands of the one who receives the
| condolences, and she is amazed to find
that the stories are wide Of the facts,
as well as in disagreement with each
other. The implication is that the
closest physical relationship does not
necessarily carry understanding. While
this is not particularly new discovery,
there is distinction in the work,
a cool astringent quality in the writing
and complete absence of banauty.
The book, indeed. seems to be a su-
perior thing of its kind. It can be
commended to all save the deter
minedly sentimental.
THE OUTWARD ROOM. BY Millen
Brand. New York: Simon g.
Schuster.
THIS novel is the story of woman's
return to normal mentality after
she has spent several years in a mental
hospital. 1t tells OF how she acquired
the idea that she must escape from
the sanitarium; of how she did escape;
Of how, penniless and bewildered, she
arrived in New York, and finally, of
how, in the companionship Of a man,
machine shop worker, who befriended
her there, she groped her way back
to mental self-suficiency.
1t is good book if you like that
kind of story. It is already on the
best-seller list of one bookshop in the
city. The reviewer is Of the opinion.
however, that readers will need a
certain definite interest In the prob
lem involved before they can find the
story absorbing. 1t is a little too far
outside the run of human experience
But, for what it is, well done and
convincing.
THE WIND FROM THE NOUN
TAINS. BY Trygve Gulbranssen.
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
THIS is the sequel to Beyond Sing
the Woods" novel which, some
what to the reviewers mystifcation,
became best seller for some months
last year. It was, to be sure, a pleas
ant little book. It was one of those
Scandinavian novels in which the ex-
pected realism of the country is aban-
doned for romance of so pure, child
Like and quaint quality that to read
1t is to be almost embarrassed. The
Scandinavians do both types OF work
the realistic and the romantic-very
well, when they stick to the clean di-
vision. Sometimes, however, a novel;
ist among them will mix the two.
When that happens there Is nothing
for a reader to do but commit suicide.
Nothing can be more unrelievedly
awful.
Well, Beyond Sing the Woods" was
unmixed romance, and was q very
pretty little tale, with 4 family of
strong. silent, handsome men holding
an estate Of vast wealth up in the
widest OF mountains and being feared
and slandered by their ahallow-mind-
ed neighbors, but maintaining their
own very heroically (even to fighting
bears with naked hands, and forgiv-
ing their enemies in the long run.
And the like. But as to why 1t should
have found responsive chord in the
American public the reviewer cannot
imagine. Certain 1t Is that If such a
tale had been written about an Ameri-
can family, in an American setting,
it would have been received as asking
too much for the imagination. But
We can believe in wonders when We
see the importers stamp. The only
parallel in English which occurs to
the reviewer Is the redoubtable family
OF Miss de Ia Roches Whiteoaks, and
even they come from Canada.
Now We have 1.-The Wind From the
Mountains" dealing with new gener.
alton of this same strong, silent family.
and it ought to repeat its predecessors
success. For it is much the same kind
OF book. 1t tells OF the arrival on the
mountain estate Of young city-hred
daughter-in-law and Of her feeling Of
deep kinship for the place, of more
difficulties with neighbors, notably the
wicked siren, Elizabeth, of the birth
OF children. of ghosts, myths and
legends which have a living place in
the peasants MINDS, and Of the final
heroic end Of the master Of the estate
who follows the tradition OF his for
bears, even in his manner Of DYING.
AS romantic as '"The Trail Of the
Lonesome Pine" in other words. and
just as enthralling. Nor is that last