The Sub

A semi-autobiographical novel with an excellent premise, The Sub depicts the trials and tribulations of a culture warrior who makes a living as a substitute teacher. True to the tenets of postmodernism, this book blurs the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction. Unfortunately, it rarely challenges them. A typical pattern is the introduction of a schoolday anecdote or event followed by a slide off into improvisational runs that pay more attention to sound than sense: ""in the middle of a thought that would have saved the rave, closed the shave, behaved the slaves."" Judiciously used, this Dylanesque (Bob, that is) lyricizing could be fun, but such riffs are usually superfluous and only detract from a very real, sometimes harrowing, clash of generations--the late 20-somethings just starting to settle in and the new generation now in high school. An encounter with two students, one sucking a pacifier, trying to steal a VCR out of a classroom does demonstrate Jazz's ability to recreate the chaos of the classroom setting and his obvious concern with the slices of life he faces. At one point, he describes his work as a collection of ""stories, drama bits, mad tales of jest and sad laughter."" More of this structure and tone could have made this book into the sharper social commentary it seems to want to be. (Aug.)