Raskin (Little New York Bastard
) uses his delightful, fresh voice in depicting himself: a young, alienated New Yorker who must learn to continue in an unfeeling world after the death of his beloved mother. Mike's good-bye visit to his psychiatrist frames these colloquial episodes. "Jitters in Lake George," the first segment, relays Mike's strange vacation with his sickly mother, Francine, to the resort they cherish from when his father was still alive. Through Mike's logorrheic narrative—he speaks to Franny in non sequiturs, addresses people as "ace" and uses throwbacks like "sizzled my steak"—Mike reveals himself as slightly off-center and paranoid. Stockpiling supplies of fleece and bandanas in expectation of a nuclear attack on New York, he seeks to protect his mother, but in fact it becomes clear Franny is already dead and he is carrying around her memory. "Carlin Park and the Flying Fish" revisits the two on vacation in Florida, where Franny recovers from an operation and comforts her depressed son, "There's nothing wrong with aiming high for those bandanas and October supplies." Smart characterizations, sly digs at established writing ("I like a book that takes at least some
risk, for God's sake," snorts Mike) and an engaging voice distinguish this slender work. (Mar.)
