Beverly and Marigold

The two characters linked in the title of this collection of 11 stories are strangers in more than one way. The first seven stories follow the colorful trajectory of Beverly Reynolds, a middle-class young man from Illinois (and admittedly a fictional gloss of the author) who must hit bottom before he finds peace. The remainder of the tales belong to Marigold, a homeless African American woman in Manhattan who is so full of spirit that she takes on the devil himself and saves the World Trade Center from collapse. The contrast between the two groups of stories seems meant to instruct and inspire. ""The Stamp Collection"" re-creates Beverly's childhood friendship with a dying neighbor, whose talks ignite the boy's desire to see the world. ""Overture and Beginners"" is the liveliest entry here, describing Beverly's youthful plunge into the romping theater subculture of Beat-era New York. ""My Primrose Path"" outlines his career as a publicist, his brief marriage and his descent into alcoholism. ""Paying My Dues"" takes him into the racial troubles of the Deep South in the 1960s, and ""The Heart Attack"" caps off the Beverly tales in middle age. Marking the passage, young Beverly becomes known as Reynolds; he then meets Marigold, who, while utterly disenfranchised, believes she can do anything. The Marigold tales--featuring such outrageous events as a speech Marigold makes in an empty U.N. building, celebrate Marigold's power as the instrument of moral action that Beverly never became. While these third-person stories are suffused with the same buoyant energy as Beverly's first-person adventures, they teeter a bit too precariously between wildly humorous and silly. Some readers will be dismayed by the lack of cohesion between the two groups of tales, but the author's verve will charm those eager for an upbeat message. (Nov.)