This tender but disjointed novella explores what the author clearly believes was a kinder, gentler time: the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the hands of Smurthwaite (Fine Old High Priests
; Letter by a Half Moon
), mid-century Portland, Ore., becomes a simple utopia, where neighbors knew neighbors (but did not intrude on their business), and kindness was the order of the day. Indeed, not one ugly incident mars the coming-of-age of protagonist Neal Rogers, which makes for some nostalgic moments but a not very compelling plot. Growing up as one of five children in a boxmaker's family, Neal experiences a loving Mormon childhood, full of the security of a stable home and a close-knit ward (congregation). Smurthwaite offers some sweet, even cloying, snatches of Mormon life, including a particularly endearing sketch about an awkward young couple who have to be urged into courtship by various members of the ward. However, the novella constantly switches from vignette to vignette, giving readers a paragraph of one and then confusing them with a paragraph of another, with very little to go on in the way of time frame, setting and character. The artistic result is a frenetic disorder that is precisely the opposite of the unhurried, cohesive sensibility Smurthwaite seeks to convey. (Mar.)
