The Yokota Officers Club: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Stories nestle inside stories like a set of Russian dolls in  Bird's (Virgin of the Rodeo) wonderful fifth novel. Set in the  late 1960s, it is narrated by 18-year-old Bernie, the eldest of  six children in the peripatetic Root family. After her freshman  year in college, Bernie joins her nomadic kin at their current  home, an Okinawan air force base. They have changed: her younger  sister, Kit, is out of control and "now being played by Lolita";  her once glamorous mother, Moe, is overweight and depressed; her  father, who was a heroic and swaggering fighter pilot, has  become a distant, self-loathing "ground pounder." And Bernie  can't stop thinking of Fumiko, the family's former maidservant,  whom no one is allowed to mention. Before being sucked into the  family's torpor, Bernie escapes by winning a dance contest that  lands her in Tokyo as the stage partner of Bobby Moses, a  third-rate borscht belt comedian. There she delves into the past  to solve the mystery surrounding Fumiko's disappearance and her  family's deterioration. Bernie sharp and snarky, yet severely  introverted is a delightful heroine, and the large cast that  swirls around her is equally endearing. Particularly fine are  the wisecracking yet nurturing Moe and the oddly touching Bobby  Moses, who's vulgar and mediocre, but insistent on  professionalism. The dialogue is first-rate, and all the '60s  brand-name dropping is amusing; the decade becomes fresh again  when seen from the unusual perspective of a military family  (especially this one) removed from mainland society. (June) Forecast: Bird has David Sedaris's gift for mining scathing wit  from family dysfunction. Only one of her earlier novels is still  in print, but hopefully her move to Knopf (and a slew of  enthusiastic blurbs from the likes of Rick Bass) will help her  to win the large readership she deserves.Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.