Mewshaw, Michael

New York. 1972. Random House. 1st Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket with Some Internal Tape Repair. 0394475933. 276 pages. hardcover. Jacket design by Joseph del Gaudio. keywords: Literature America . FROM THE PUBLISHER - Carter White, the central character in Michael Mewshaw's second novel, undergoes a series of traumatic experiences which compel him to forsake the glib self-confidence and fashionable pessimism which often seem interchangeable poses for people his age. Instead he spends two years groping with the universal problems of death, love, and birth. After his parents die suddenly, and he is injured in an accident in Vietnam, he returns to civilian life and falls in love with Elaine Yost, who, he believes, will help him forget what has happened. But fate intervenes, forcing them into a period of intense emotional revelation. Despite their doubts, they remain together and move to Los Angeles for anonymity. There they find themselves among others who are left out, a congregation of the lonely, and suffering an even keener dislocation, the two young people realize that they have little in common with their contemporaries and less with the preceding generation. Together they learn there is no way to avoid the demands of love, no escape from the consequences of personal decisions, and no substitute for the elemental energy and endurance which keep people alive when there appears to be no reason. Though the novel’s theme is serious, Michael Mewshaw has not lost the gift of outrageous humor for which critics praised his first book, Man in Motion. Especially in Eddie Brown, the shyster-Svengali who tries to harry Carter out of his depression, the reader will recognize a character of rare comic inventiveness, and as indicated by Mr. Mewshaw's uncanny eye for grotesque details and ear for the corrosive wit of current slang, he is often most serious and incisive when he is funny. But while he captures in vivid scenes absurd charades of contemporary life, he never forgets that they are played out by flesh, and, blood people, whose only crime is to act all too human in inhuman circumstances. Written with compassion, maturity, and intelligence, Waking Slow speaks vitally of truths which are by no means restricted to these times or to the young. inventory #5620 ISBN: 0394475933.