IMPORTANT THINGS THAT DON'T MATTER

Amsden's solid but unremarkable debut novel visits familiar coming-of-age landmarks as it tells the story of a boy growing up with divorced parents. At age five, the anonymous narrator witnesses the end of his parents' troubled marriage: his father, an alcoholic and cokehead who drifts from one dead-end job to another, ditches his mother to take off with sexy young Shirley, a former Playmate and friend of the family who goes from being houseguest to home wrecker. The boy lives mostly with his mother in their suburban Maryland home; Mom runs a graphic design agency and prospers, giving her son some sense of stability. Dad, on the other hand, continues to change jobs as often as he changes girlfriends, and takes his son on such dubious field trips as visits to the pub and his girlfriend's apartment in the projects—all while continuing to drink and get high regularly. As the boy negotiates his parents' two worlds, he's also absorbed in the usual preadolescent and teenage dramas; he has his first girlfriend, dumps her and plays the field with other girls who are themselves the scarred victims of no-fault divorce. The narrator's voice is a likable mixture of bewilderment and tentative black humor, and some of the scenes—especially those involving the exuberantly dysfunctional father—are well cast and darkly ironic, but the book as a whole doesn't gather much momentum. Agent, Melanie Jackson.(Apr.)

Forecast:Amsden is another precocious whiz kid whose age (23) will probably win him attention. Some readers will also recognize him as a chronicler of Manhattan nightlife for New York magazine. Three-city author tour.