Don't Stand So Close

Rees certainly knows the doldrums of suburbia and the intellectual ennui of school teaching. His debut novel, detailing the budding affair of a middle-aged music teacher and his student, is coated with an intellectual sheen that incorporates multiple references to English poetry and popular song lyrics. Yet beneath the surface lies little more than a conventional plot without much insight into the situation other than detached amusement. The conversation that fills the lives of teacher Tom Browning and pupil Claire Bennett is stilted and full of too-easy British witticisms and ripostes that might sit prettily in a television sitcom, but don't work on a printed page. (Tom: ``I couldn't say I won't dance with you because my wife is a paranoid schizophrenic who'll rip my head off at the shoulders if I stand on the same carpet tile as another woman now, could I?'' Tom's wife: ``We are not here to discuss floor coverings, Tom! We are discussing the future of our marriage!'') Although Don't Stand So Close has its amusing moments, Rees seems altogether too relaxed about his subject matter for the reader to summon much interest. (June)