The False Years

Less a novel than an extended dramatic monologue, this story is set entirely in the dreamy, emotionally charged mind of a 17-year-old boy as he stands at the grave of his father, whom he resembles in almost every way. Is it an act of devotion--Luis Alfonso clearly adores his father--or something less admirable that motivates his filial thoughts? As Luis's ruminations unfold, we learn with dismay that in a desire to emulate the deceased, he has engaged in crooked politics, rejected his mother and sister and even taken up with his father's old mistress. Vicens ( Blank Pages ), a Mexican writer who died last year, uses the primal father-son relationship to create an allegorical work haunted by questions of individual mortality and political conflict. (Dec.)