Flower Shadows

In her first novel for adults, Farish ( Shelter for a Seabird ) powerfully conveys the sights and sounds of the Vietnam war as experienced by a ``doughnut dollie,'' one of the women sent to run Red Cross mobile recreation units. Diana Seymour, an unsophisticated 19-year-old college girl from Texas, signs up with patriotic fervor for a stint in Southeast Asia. Her best friend there is cynical yet sensitive Pearly, whose life so far has been ``one catastrophe after another.'' Told that their job is to be a ``mix of storyteller/social worker/entertainer'' to the soldiers, the women soon realize these duties present many contradictions. ``If you came over as a cute college girl with nice skin and neat values, you wouldn't go home as one. This was war,'' says Diana, who falls in love with a soldier and loses much of her naivete. Diana's narrative crosses freely between her inner and outer worlds, resulting in a dreamlike and haunting, though sometimes confusing tale. (Jan.)