cover image Bradovich

Bradovich

William Herrick. New Directions Publishing Corporation, $18.95 (202pp) ISBN 978-0-8112-1141-3

At heart, Herrick's ( Hermanos! ) exemplary and timely novel is The Trial rewritten in Hemingwayesque prose. Stephen Wizard Bradovich is a 50-ish, widowed, renowned New York sculptor who suddenly finds himself under surveillance by The Authority for some undesignated crime. He's never quite sure what this mysterious organization is, except that it's more powerful than the police or the CIA. The Authority has his apartment keys, which it uses with regularity; enough personnel to keep track of his every move, no matter how many taxi switches he makes midride; and even the power to break through TV broadcasts to threaten him. Bradovich's only allies in the battle for his life are Golo the Gimp, tiny, ``overly endowed, internationally respected magician''; Floriana, a prostitute trying to quell her lust for her brother; and Beatrice, a redhead 15 years his junior who is ready to become his spouse. Struggling to survive the horrors his stony-faced inquisitors daily confront him with, Bradovich no longer has time to create his increasingly blank-faced stone figures. All his energy goes into persisting, a fate not unlike that of fellow New Yorkers. Herrick has created an A1 satire on urban living, capturing the violence, the fears, the desiderations and inanities. He's even come up with a rather simplistic solution: ``Fear feeds fear. Courage breeds courage.'' Don't be afraid. Don't give in. (Oct.)