THE WAY TO SOMEWHERE

A precocious young girl from Houston takes a circuitous path to young womanhood in Day's first novel, a coming-of-age yarn that marks the debut of a sharp, concise and funny writer. Taylor Jessup is the engaging narrator, a self-effacing, attractive loner from a down-and-out family that gets torn apart when her father, a plumber who's been living in the closet for years, leaves her mother to take to the road as a truck driver. The revelation about his sexual orientation proves devastating to Taylor's mother, who resorts to alcohol to deal with his departure. But Taylor's brother, J.J., a freshman at Texas A&M, is more resilient, and when he visits with his handsome college buddy, Luther, to check up on Taylor, Taylor falls hard for Luther. Luther is friendly but not smitten, and the rudderless Taylor rejects the possibility of college, heading off for brief sojourns to New Orleans and Mexico before she settles into working as an apprentice for an older carpenter who restores furniture. Fate cuts into this stable interlude when her father dies, and soon after, she bumps into Luther, now a medical student, who spirits her off to New York after a brief whirlwind romance. Luther's busy life as a resident sours the affair, leaving Taylor to face a series of difficult decisions as their love fades. The story line stays close to the coming-of-age formula in the early going, but Day is a smooth, down-to-earth writer who packs plenty of trenchant observations and insights into her short scenes. A freelance producer for MTV, she has all the right stuff for a parallel career as a novelist. (Mar. 7)