Losing Eddie

Disastrous events that befall a rural family are realistically depicted in this modern-day tragedy, Corey's debut. Presented from the point of view of a nine-year-old-girl, it is a story rendered with sincerity and ingenuousness, one in which a child's tenaciously held hopes--for her mother's sanity, her father's sobriety and her three siblings' self-preservation--seem painfully unlikely to be fulfilled. The narrator, whose failure to reveal her name suggests her insecurity, describes the events that lead to a crisis among the members of her already troubled clan. Her older brother, Eddie, who has been serving time at reform school for drunk driving, has returned to the family's home in New Brunswick, Canada, where his parents anticipate that he'll make a fresh start. Despite their concern, however, Eddie's rebellious behavior bodes ill. Corey creates a heartbreaking portrait made even more poignant by the narrator's innocence. Laborious at times--if only because the speaker is so clearly unable to affect her environment--this novel ends with an intended catharsis that nonetheless falls short of negating its overall fatalism. (Sept.)