Guys Like Us

Zack and Harry live at the 79th Street marina in New York City: Harry with his mothera romance noveliston a permanently-moored houseboat; Zack with his father, a wanderer who is holing up in New York to research a sunken ship. If he can pinpoint its location, he and Zack will be set for life. The boys, both high school seniors, don't mind their offbeat lifestyles, although Harry hopes to go to college and have a more stable existence than his mother's. All Zack wants is warmer weather, and hopes his dad will head for Florida soon. Then along comes Skye Benning, who lives in her mother's penthouse apartment overlooking the marina. Both boys fall in love with her, but it's Zack she loves in return. Harry, surrounded by his mother's novels, understands love less and less, while Zack clings to the idea that when he and his father sail south, Skye will be with him. Buchan's novel about the relationships between friends and lovers is taut and bittersweet. (12-up)