Fireweed Fireweed

Getting out of one's too-confining hometown is the lifelong dream of more than a few, and so it is with Celie Henderson, the paler, Swedish version of Dreiser's Carrie Meeber in Walker's long out-of-print 1934 novel. Celie lives and works with her family in the Michigan mill town of Flat Point, but has dreams of brighter lights in Milwaukee and Detroit. Celie chooses mill worker Joe Linsen for her husband, breaking off a dubious courtship with Arthur Farley, a piano-playing, juke-joint aficionado brought in by his uncle to take over mill operations. She spends most of her time agonizing over her decision, prodding Joe to look for a job in the city, fretting over the hard life and harsh winters in Flat Point. Ultimately, Celie must decide between the simple pleasures of her two children and sturdy Joe, and her yearnings for the city and finer things. Walker's novel is a thrilling dime-store page-turner, filled with sharply drawn characters and details--Celie is often seen in a bright green Sears catalogue dress and opera pumps, even in the snow. Only when Walker stretches toward the metaphorical does her novel falter. When ice blocks the road out of town, Celie becomes hysterical: `` `Joe, it's like you said, look; we couldn't get out if we wanted to.' Celie laughed a thin, harsh laugh that ended in a dry sob.'' Still, watching the couple as they grow, have children and come to accept each other will send the reader rocketing from front cover to back. Illustrations. Nebraska, which published Walker's Winter Wheat last season, will also be publishing her The Curlew's Cry this month. (May)