The Past Leads a Life of Its Own

Growing up in an Illinois town and, later, in a Des Moines, Iowa, housing project, Lonnie is an expert on the anguish of adults. His parents are members of the permanently semi-employed working class, hopping from city to farm in search of construction work or vegetables to pick. Set against the rhythms of nature, Field's 16 luminous, interrelated stories celebrate a boy's coming-of-age in America's hard-luck heartland. Fields ( What the River Knows ) creates believable characters who struggle to maintain their self-respect and dignity amid the debris of their lives. The uncluttered, simple plots concern a sadistic, religion-obsessed teacher who gets his comeuppance from Lonnie's father; an aunt's wedding plans gone hilariously haywire; an uncle's tractor accident that gives Lonnie his first glimpse of the inside of a hospital; a farmer who cheats him out of a day's pay; an unemployed man deserted by his wife and by the death of their two-year-old daughter. The beauty of these deeply felt stories lies in their spare, ear-perfect language and in quiet epiphanies. (Apr.)