No More Saturday Night

Wasting no time on preliminaries, Klein begins her story where many others would endwith the weighty aftermath of a casual high school romance. Tim Weber, 17 and bound for Columbia on a scholarship, goes to court to win the custody of his unborn child. Determined to show the world that he can ``handle it,'' after his son is born, Tim sticks to his plans and moves to New York City. He eventually finds accommodating roommates, daycare for the baby, and does his best to carry a full course load. But Tim finds that being a full-time premedical student isn't always compatible with being a full-time parent. Something has to give, and Tim learns that he isn't a failure just because he admits weakness. Klein ( My Life as a Body , Older Men , etc.) starts with an unusual premise, which would have been the sole theme in a lesser work. But she never takes the easy way out, and fashions a multilayered meditation on love, parenthood and male-female roles. The occasional strong expletives and frank treatment of sex mark this as a book for mature young adults. Ages 12-up. (October)