Out of Body and Mind

Energetic writing and interesting background material are overshadowed in this first novel by the main character's annoying mysticism. Sentenced to 15 years in jail for killing her art teacher with a poisoned apple, Eve White spends her time writing her life story and boring fellow prisoner and lover Pup with New Age mumbo jumbo. When Eve's hometown psychiatrist, Dr. Marvin, complains about having had to listen to Eve ``droning on and on like this for over a year,'' the reader is inclined to do likewise. Too much of the book recapitulates her sessions with Dr. Marvin, to whom Eve confides about her bizarre artistic theories, out-of-body experiences and the imaginary Sandman, who appears to her one night in a laundromat, proferring the fatal apple. Although obviously intended as satire, these meanderings sit heavily on the page. Better chapters flash back to Eve's childhood with alcoholic parents and subsequent love affairs with a string of tall, dark, bearded men, most of whom abuse her. These compelling sections describe the off-kilter lives of young people barely on the edges of the working class--high school dropouts who work low-paying jobs and play in rock bands at night. More of such grim but wacky material and less of Eve's convoluted mental meanderings might have made for an impressive debut. (Aug.)