Sex and Sunsets

Bride Colette Hart makes just one mistake when she spiritedly takes hold of a football on the steps of a Jackson, Wyo., church and gives it a good, smart punt over the rectory before proceeding to her own wedding: she drops her good-natured kick in sight of dishwasher Kelly Palomino, lounging across the street on his porch, who is seized by an instant, not-to-be-thwarted love for her. Kellyseparated from his wife, a slob, a man who hears voices but argues he is sane, a good old boy with a vulgar sense of humor and an embarrassing penchant for humiliating himselfcrashes the wedding and, a true obsessive, irritatingly proceeds to follow Colette everywhere, begging her to leave her new husband and marry him. This first novel is as single-minded as its narrator, hammering over and over at the pitiable Kelly's unreasonable mission. Although at times charming and insightful, the narrative rarely rises above its conceit about the folksy, foul-mouthed wisdom of madness. (April 15)