GOLDENGROVE (1971) is the story of Ernie Buddusky, younger brother of Billy "Badass" Buddusky, the cocky, brash hero of THE LAST DETAIL (1970), author Darryl Ponicsan's successful first novel (the film adaptation is now considered A classic). But Ernie is nothing like Billy. A mousy, meek, sad sack, Ernest Scott Buddusky (named for Hemingway and Fitzgerald, writers much admired by his father, a high school teacher in Andoshen, Pennsylvania) has followed in his dad's footsteps and become an English teacher. He's at his second teaching job when we meet him, at a modern new high school near Los Angeles. His wife, the "Amazon" or Big Betty, was his student at his first teaching job in Upstate NY, and is several years younger. They have a baby boy, and she is pregnant again. There is an unreliable used car. His salary is meager and barely covers the bills. Ernie hates his job, teaching spoiled children of the wealthy, and isn't entirely happy with his marriage either. There is a complementary cast of eccentric characters, most of them teachers or administrators. Ernie edges into a sad, unsatisfactory affair with the virginal, convent-raised math teacher. There are complications.

THE LAST DETAIL was based on Ponicsan's experiences in the Navy. GOLDENGROVE is obviously drawn from his several years of teaching in public schools, and he's got the types down pat. I found myself alternately chuckling and wincing, remembering my own teaching days. In fact I was still teaching when I first read this book, more than fifty years ago. In the interval, long out of print, it's lost none of its charm as a tragicomic tale of a sensitive, unhappy guy trapped in a job and a marriage, with no relief in sight. And the ending is still a shock, although, as our hapless hero himself comments, "That's about right."

One of Ponicsan's strengths as a writer is dialogue (indeed he spent nearly thirty years as a screenwriter in Hollywood) and it shines here, making GOLDENGROVE a perhaps less cerebral, snappy cousin of John Updike's THE CENTAUR (also about a put-upon high school teacher). GOLDENGROVE is a quick read, and a good one. I loved it all over again. Fifty years on, Ponicsan remains one of my favorite writers. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ( )