The Slide

Twenty-two-year-old Potter Mays, full of post-college regrets, heartache and anxiety about the future, returns to his Missouri hometown to be greeted by his parents' fractured marriage and a thankless job delivering water coolers. Anchorless without his longtime girlfriend, Audrey, and the reassuring daily structure of school, Potter seeks the warmth of a regular routine and the constancy of family, only to find that the place and people he knew have changed, perhaps even more than he has during his four years away.

Over a long, hot Midwestern summer, Potter's struggle to identify what love is -- how he defines it in his relationships with Audrey, who he feels may or may not be his soulmate; with his parents, who cling to him, their only surviving son; and with impressionable neighborhood children -- ends in bursts of self-awareness and self-destruction, and, ultimately, in the agonizing, necessary process of growing up.

Immersed in the struggle first put to paper by J.D. Salinger's legendary protagonist, Potter is a grown-up Holden Caulfield, just beyond the cusp separating child from man, battling the enigma of human desire with more reflection, and yet, less control. A state of ennui lingers in the air as he halfheartedly fights insomnia, alternately willing himself to confront

or deny the demons

that keep him from connecting with those he loves.

Potter repeats the mistakes that have, combined with his disturbing lack of post-graduation plans, brought him confusion and despair. Yet his soulful self-analysis pervades each scorching month, finally bringing him closer to answers.

Mr. Beachy's crisp prose underscores the lethargy and bittersweet ache that define Potter's first summer home after college. The author renders, paradoxically, the futility of language to convey both the hopelessness and the hope that everyone, both Potter and his readers, have all at one point felt so deeply.

Books reviewed in this column are available online or at your local bookstore.