The Burning Women of Far Cry

Like most teenage boys, Jack, the hero-narrator of this curious coming-of-age tale, is sort of sex-crazy, fascinated by everything from National Geographic to the nudist magazines collected by his strange stepfather, Gent Mundy, proprietor of the local dairy in Far Cry. Attempting by turns to be farcical and madcap, the book never really attains the level of consistently zany humor it is searching for. The plot involves Jack's relationships with women, starting with his sexy mother, Jade, who marries Gent and immediately cuckolds him by taking up with Guy Rampling, a milk deliveryman. Then there is LaDonna, Jack's sister, an appealing free spirit of a girl who unfortunately grows less interesting as the story unfurls; in fact, a book about her might have been more intriguing than the one the author has given us. Although the initial chapters describing Jack's household are amusing, the narrative soon begins to meander and loses much of the energy and frivolity it seemed to promise. DeMarinis also wrote the well-received short story collection, Under the Wheat. (November 19)