Closing Distance

By the time readers realize that virtually nothing happens in Oliver's memorable first novel, they will be much too caught up with his singular characters--and dexterous prose--to mind. This witty, thoughtful story opens with the four Flowers offspring being summoned to dinner at their parents' Main Line Philadelphia home. (``Something is up,'' muses son Pete, a gay man facing 40--and the ever-present threat of AIDS--with no little trepidation.) Indeed, matriarch Liz--a scintillating combination of Auntie Mame and General Schwarzkopf--is about to undergo a mastectomy. Pete is prompted to reexamine his life and his values; the other siblings' many and varied domestic difficulties also enliven Oliver's engrossing, highly literate narrative. The scene in which Liz--languishing after surgery with a ``medicinal Scotch''--questions Pete about his amatory affairs is a triumph: Oliver elicits laughter and a lump in the throat with equal finesse. Reflective vignettes are self-contained gems, and concise character delineations speak volumes: brother Stu, for example, is ``rarely seen out of his. . . heavy business brogues (the same model in four colors).'' Oliver's commingling of humor and drama makes for a sterling debut. BOMC alternate; QPB selection. (Sept.)