Manny

Rebellious 16-year-old Josh Lipkin, who runs away from his dysfunctional Manhattan family in 1983, narrates Rosen's debut novel, a coming-of-age tale with an eccentric cast of characters. Josh hates his bullying father, a liquor store owner who beats and derides him. His embittered, vodka-soaked mother, a TV addict, can't offer him guidance in his search for self and for the meaning of his Jewish identity. More than your typical awkward, bright, sex-obsessed teenager, Josh is a troubled loner who seeks human contact by attending strangers' funerals and by sneaking into nursing homes to befriend octogenarians. He finds a soul mate in a bohemian advertising copywriter almost twice his age: Tiffany Elizabeth (""Manny"") Mann. Manny is searching too--for her boyfriend, Patrick, who has disappeared. Sleuthing in a befuddled way, the two travel to Patrick's hometown on Cape Cod, where Josh meets Francis Gallagher, a retired Boston cop turned PI. Gallagher, at first misunderstands Josh and Manny's relationship but later takes a fatherly interest in the youth. Rosen's depiction of a youngster emotionally scarred by physical abuse is well grounded. But his Harold and Maude-type tale of an unlikely friendship is unconvincing (Manny is a bore) and the search for Patrick is a nonsuspenseful wild goose chase. Josh's adolescent angst is interesting for a while, but even his sarcasm doesn't stop the narrative from descending into bathos. (Oct.)