Girl in Landscape Jonathan Lethem Doubleday Imagine if Hillary Clinton suddenly dropped dead, leaving young Chelsea to work out her own sexuality in light of her father's supposed adventures and misadventures. Then imagine this all taking place light years from the White House, no McDonalds or Madeline Albright in sight. Add another race of beings with nothing to do but think and watch - picture The Artist (okay, Prince) with fur and a few fronds sticking out of his head - and you've got an idea of what Jonathan Lethem's new novel, "Girl in Landscape," is about. Maybe the most overused word in describing Lethem's stories and his brand of science fiction is "quirky," but it is certainly accurate. The plot and characters of "Girl in Landscape" are undeniably quirky. How is fourteen-year-old Pella Marsh supposed to have a normal coming of age and sexual awakening when her family is forced to flee Brooklyn for the frontier of a new planet in the face of her politician father's recent defeat at the polls? Then, just before their departure, Pella's mother makes a strange noise in the shower and dies, suddenly leaving Pella as the sole female, with a father and two younger brothers. The planet the Marshes move to is just beginning to be colonized, and it is as devoid of law and order as the American Wild West. The little colony is run mainly through a policy of isolation and space. As more people arrive and begin to brush up against one another more frequently, problems begin. Meanwhile, Pella begins to go through the obvious physical changes of puberty, struggling with her dual role as a child and an adult. Her two brothers and even her father begin to see her as a kind of surrogate mother. Puberty and sexual awakening are a heavy load for any fourteen year old, even more so in this nascent society, where female role models are difficult to find and men of various ages become both threatening and alluring. As the few pioneering families try to re-create the familiar patterns and structures of life on Earth, Pella's rebellion leads her to grapple with what the planet really is, the changes it will require, and how it will affect her life. Along the way, Pella runs into the Archbuilders, an unusual race of creatures living in the remains of their once powerful society. Archbuilders are intelligent and enjoy playing with the English language and manipulating its meanings, taking English names for themselves like "Hiding Kneel" and "Truth Renowned." But Efram Nugent - the solitary man who knows about this land and the Archbuilders and who is both repelling and attractive to the young Pella - says the real Archbuilders have left for other planets, leaving only the cowards and the weak behind. He calls them a bunch of sexual deviants. Pella also discovers the Archbuilder's virus, which affects children and results in a kind of astral projection, making it possible for her to see things she might otherwise be ignorant of. With all of these details in place, Lethem gradually and humorously begins to break down the fledgling society. Sexual deviance is always a powerful issue, and even more so when it appears in a small colony on the edges of civilization. Far from any authority, people are free to create their own justice, their own "family values," reacting to attacks from and discoveries about the others around them in any way they choose. Pella inhabits that strange world between adulthood and childhood where people allow you to be present during "important" matters and then expect you not to understand. The planet helps her play the role of a voyeur, learning about her family and the others in the town through what they say, their uncertainties, and their hidden activities. In the end, "Girl in Landscape" is a kind of modern, otherworldly Western, with a troubled young girl as the central character. As improbable as that sounds, Lethem strings readers along with continual tension between unlikely characters in a highly unusual world. Reading "Girl in Landscape" prompted me to run out and buy a copy of "As She Climbed Across the Table," Lethem's preivious book. I am also looking forward to reading his back catalogue - "Gun, with Occasional Music," "Amnesia Moon," and "The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye." I am, to say the least, impressed. -Chris	Home   Viewfinder   Presswire   Spotlight     Sounds   Films   What Bytes   Dead Trees     About Us