Limbo

Salazar's first novel is about a few months in the life of Cassiopeia Quinlan as she struggles to make a living, support her four-year-old daughter and track down her deadbeat husband so she can get divorced. The story flashes between episodes of Cassie's current life in Fresno, Calif., and scenes from her childhood: a depressing series of false starts with her flaky mother, Eileen. Salazar obviously hopes to show both how Cassiopeia is in danger of repeating her mother's pattern, and her potential to break away from it. The author succeeds in part but relies too heavily on characterization and setting at the expense of a viable plot. Salazar's men are not fully developed, and the women, if colorful, are predictable--too often reminiscent of Ellen Gilchrist or Barbara Kingsolver. Point-of-view shifts are risky and don't always pan out, especially when Salazar takes readers inside a late-arriving character. Salazar's gift for setting is unmistakable, but insight is lacking in Cassie's final epiphanies, such as: ``How quickly the past becomes the future, she thought, which then becomes the past even as we think it.'' It's hard to share Salazar's optimism that good times are finally around the corner for Cassie. One might want to spend a few hours with the characters, but only if one has time to spare. (May)