The Top of the World

Joella (A Little Hope) spins an overly sentimental tale of a young man dying of leukemia and his sister’s attempt to process his death. After high school graduate Chip Bishop’s diagnosis in 1974, he disappears for much of the summer to a Poconos mountain resort called the Red Maple Inn, leaving his sister Maggie and parents without a clue as to where’s he’s gone, and not telling them much upon his return, shortly after which he dies. In the Poconos, he finds purpose and comfort, charming the resort owner and her young staff, comforting a staffer tormented by flashbacks of combat in Vietnam, and pitching in on odd jobs. A year later, Maggie visits the Red Maple Inn and gets to know the people who were with Chip during the last months of his life, among them activities director Nancy, who sings his praises (“He showed up at this place like a, I don’t know, a firecracker”). As the picture of Chip’s life there slowly develops, Joella throws in incidents involving a baby, a bear, and an alpine romance, but there’s not much depth, and the eventual revelation of a love triangle feels underdeveloped. Even Chip’s death doesn’t make much of an impact on the page. This has the cloying ring of a schmaltzy ’70s soft rock tune. (June)