EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

The eighth-graders who appeared in The Trouble with Lemons (1991) are back in a stronger second novel, less freighted with the life conflicts of its adult characters. The theme here is comic, hinging on the pickles that Tyler (privileged only child of a widowed actress) and his slower, marginally more sensible friend Lymie (scion of a farm family in Wakefield, in upstate New York) keep getting into—notably, after carving stone heads in imitation of Badoglio, a revered sculptor who once worked in Wakefield. Teased about their handiwork, the boys throw the two heads into a river, whence they are dredged up and misidentified- -by eminent art critics and community luminaries—as genuine Badoglios. Hayes makes good use of the boys' ensuing moral dilemma, and even better use of its comic possibilities, spinning them out through several surprising reversals. Other events- -especially a Halloween encounter with a vicious neighbor who overreacts to a prank—establish the boys' propensity for trouble, but divert attention from the primary story. Other strengths here are also undermined by faults: groundskeeper Chuckie is a refreshing blend of big brother and father figure to Tyler, but Lymie's apparent talents (consistently misrepresented by his narrator friend) are out of focus; there's some laudably fresh language, and much of the dialogue is snappy and realistic, but it goes on and on. A funny book with real insights, but much in need of pruning. (Fiction. 11-15)