Spheres of Disturbance

At first glance, the set-up of Schutzer's ruminative, occasionally leaden second novel appears comic: a poet, Avery, presides over a "garage sale and%E2%80%A6pot-bellied pig emporium" as various small town characters%E2%80%94former and current lovers, estranged siblings and a larcenous art dealer%E2%80%94pass through during one day in 1985. However, the book is primarily concerned with the emotional fallout of an ailing woman's decision to court death. Told from nine different viewpoints, the novel centers on two very different mothers: Charlotta, a pregnant pig preparing to deliver her brood, and the cancer-stricken Helen, who plans to end her life imminently and sublimely. Helen is the mother of Avery's lesbian lover, Sammy, who has been in denial and emotionally withdrawn since her mother's illness. There are some lovely, witty touches, particularly the therapeutic "altar for confused moments" at which Avery lights votive candles and the poet's wry answer to two teenagers curious about lesbianism: "It's like pinning the tail on the donkey." Unfortunately, the novel drags despite its compressed time frame, the cursory subplots distract from the central familial and romantic dramas and certain secondary characters like Durga, "a feminist witch in a Boston coven, and lesbian back-to-the-land pioneer," misfire. The potbellied pig, "contemplative as Buddha," leaves the most lasting impression as she bemusedly watches the inscrutable humans around her. (Apr.)