Suburban Metaphysics

In this slim and disappointing first volume, moats of ignorance surround a number of players. They live in unidentified suburban communities--``our little subdivided corners of Camelot''--with such limited awareness of one another's inner lives that their decisions to marry or divorce utterly astonish their friends and relatives. Couples seem to have built entire relationships out of small talk; many characters are plagued by despair, and crippled by disease or accidents. Rindo's stories offer scant more than the familiar message that all is not well in suburbia--his social commentary can be superficial, his jokes stale, his dialogue stiff with talk-show sociology. And yet there are effective scenes, and protagonists who discover unexpected reasons for hope. The giant snapping turtle that appears on the front lawn in ``Under the Carapace'' absorbs the anger and galvanizes the courage of a family suffering through a grandfather's illness and a father's desertion. The death-defying turtle is strong and frightening, and its presence suggests that Rindo has talents not yet exploited. (Feb.)