From Publishers Weekly In the early 1970s， a young man falls in love with a patient from his father's mental institution and must decide between her and Tuscaloosa's "high society." Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information， Inc. From Library Journal It is 1972， and University of Alabama graduate Billy Mitchell has returned to Tuscaloosa， working as head gardener on the grounds of the mental hospital run by his father. Billy's plan "to live the life of least resistance" is sorely tested by visions of his mother's long-ago death in a burning car with her lesbian lover and the need to decide whether he will run off with Virginia， one of the inmates at the institution. Phillips， deftly combining in Billy the alienation of Holden Caulfield and the sweet， lost Southern charm of Walker Percy's Binx Bolling ( The Moviegoer， 1961)， has created an exceptionally appealing hero. There is some awkward dialog， but on the whole this is a tender and very funny first novel， astute and ironic. Recommended for libraries collecting Southern writing or public libraries with large fiction collections.- Nancy Pearl， Washington Ctr. for the Book， SeattleCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information， Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. See all Editorial Reviews