Sunday Gazette-Mail from Charleston, West Virginia • Page 119

-T A highbrow Thorp "THE CIRCLE OF LOVE," by Roderick Thorp; Putnam's, $7.95 "The Circle of Love" is what happens sometimes when a writer of compelling adventure stories turns to what is often described as serious literature. Roderick Thorp wrote "The Detective," a fine novel about a policeman who made mistakes. "The Circle of Love" is a rather confusing novel about a lot of people who make a lot of mistakes. The story ends without resolution of any of the problems upon which it focuses. Highland Park is a suburban community where people have swimming pools, drink martinis, enjoy casual sex.

and are total strangers to their children. The only man in town who "understands" young people is a high school vice principal who has been singularly unsuccessful in discouraging the use of drugs or arranging a parent-child detente. A boys is killed by a policeman in a senseless encounter. Neither knew the other. But each knew people who knew people who knew people, and so on.

Hence, the "circle of love," which eventually winds round to touch killer and killed. I am a stranger to what is popularly called the drug scene. Maybe kids act exactly the way they act in this cold and cheerless book. I know about the parent-child relationship, however, and find nothing unusual in Thorp's affirmation that it isn't a hearty one. This is hardly news.

When I was a kid I spent a good deal of my time avoiding my parents. My own kids stayed away from me whenever possible. People have been writing about this sort of thing for hundreds of years. Thorp bears down on it hard but in the end announces no verdict. --L.

T. Anderson Another Bismarck epic "PURSUIT" by Ludovic Viking Press, $10.00. Shortly after its launching in 1940. the German battleship Bismarck was challenged by the British battleship Hood. The result was hardly a battle.

The Bismarck destroyed the Hood with ridiculous ease, and there were only three survivors from the Hood's 1.400-man complement. The blow to British national pride was no less devastating. The "mighty" Hood had to be avenged. The story of the pursuit and sinking of the Bismarck, the pride of Hitler's navy, has been the subject of several books and at least one movie. A story of lesser impact would not have continued to be the subject of so much research and investigation.

This time it is told by one of the participants, objectively using source material from both sides. "Pursuit" is a classic story of chase on the high seas. Though the British employed every resource they had. it very nearly failed to be enough. Despite having been crippled by a lucky blow, the Bismarck almost gained the safety of a friendly port before it could be finished off.

It it had. the history of World War II would have been written differently. This dramatic story is told with a you-are-there vividness that has been enhanced by maps and several sections of photos. Though it is a story of politics and machines, it is to a greater extent a tale of strong men and of the horror and heroism of war. PJven readers familiar with the story from previous tellings will find it fascinating.

Albert F. Nussbaum The big, bad apple "STREET GAMES," by Rosellen Brown; Doubleday, $6.95. This is a collection of stories about New York City where humans live among rats and protect themselves as far as possible against a greater enemy, the people who live around them. Although there is a lot of superfluous material, mostly about the California life which Ms. Brown's New York family fled.

"Street Games" is a good book about the daily catastrophe that is the citv. In one remarkable scene a woman returns to her apartment and discovers a burglar. "Who are you?" she asks casually. "You've got a lot of junk, you know," replies the thief, referring to her jewelry. "I wish you'd wash your hands." the woman says.

"Clean your fence," he responds. There's nothing unusual about a burglary. These horror tales seems to have an underlying message of hope that delightful neighborhoods could spring from the polyglot streets if only barriers could be swept away. The main barrier, of course, is an economic one, and the chances of its disappearance are too remote to ponder at length. I recommend the book to people who live in West Virginia's sparsely peopled, clean, green hills, where ethnic divisions are softened at the edges and.

for the most part, people haven't discovered the quick profits in stealing. L. T. Anderson Struggle In Africa Crossword Puzzle! CRYPTOQUIP WC Todty'iCrvptoqaipctoe: equals Answer for Sunday, August 18, CVyptoquip: WATER POLO'S A GRACEFUL AND STRENUOUS GAME. QUICK WITS KEEP PLAYERS FROM DEWY QUANDARY.

"THE DOGS OF WAR," by Frederick Forsyth; Viking, $7.95. In this tale of intrigue and warfare conducted by mercenaries. Forsyth invests the proceedings with a sense of reality by making references to actual persons and places. The device worked well in "The Jackal." a better book. It works moderately well here.

too. bul with a far less appealing set of circumstances. A business-like program designed to achieve the assassination of Charles de- Gaulle is a hard act to follow. "The Dogs of War" deals with the struggle for power and riches in Africa. Unfortunately it often resembles a vehicle written to order for Steve McQueen.

1 was struck by Forsyth's patronizing assumptions that Europeans are better fighting men than Africans, and it was easy to visualize McQueen hacking his way through ineffectual black hordes. Even if Forsyth is correct in his ethic estimates (at one point he confidently sends a handful of Europeans against a sizeable black army), it is hard to justify goodness- through-strength. It seemed to me that hairy- chested military prowess is the measure by which the book calculates the worth of men and nations, but the prospective reader shouldn't be put off by these observations. The story is good, and the plot is sufficient to maintain interest. Take it with you on vacation.

L.T. Anderson ACROSS 1 Dried orchid tubers fi Fragment 11 Rood 16 Kind of mask 17 An encomium 18 Spartan serfs 20 Large lizard 21 Asian kingdom 22 Girl of song 24 Macaws 25 Violent contention 43 Unrefined 74 Summon 109 Attica 45 Having 75 Small townships shoes 78 Maxim DOWN 46 Russians 79 Lalo, for and Poles 47 European blackbird 48 A great number 51 Miss Loos 52 Red and green 56 Footless animals 57 Square, in Paris 58 Tapestry 59 Noted explorer 60 Kind of bread 27 Wading bird61 Betel palm 29 Soon 30 Perch 31 Lively tune 32 Maple genus 33 Tibetan gazelle 34 European river 36 Coffee 37 Chinese province 62 Boy's catapult 63 Possess 64 Mrs. Cantor 65 Nonsense creature 66 Disgrace 67 Having glass sections 68 Lees 70 Giant grass 39 Irish tribal 71 Polite unit 40 Stupid 42 Slip or cutting obeisance 72 Clumsy ship 73 Papal veil one 83 Playing cards 84 Early Germans 86 Trick 87 Tissue 88 And not 89 Fine ravelings 90 Scottish land tax 91 Boring routine 92 Secluded valley 34 Famous illustrator 95 Indulge to excess 97 Move slowly 98 Corrupter 100 African antelope 102 Clubfooted 104 Metallic element 105 Greek letters 106 Expunged 107 Installs in office lObTrans- actions 1 Musical works 2 French friends 3 Illumined 4 Man in Genesis 5 Western city 6 Aged and infirm 7 Divided 8 Work as a cowboy 9 Turkish officer 10 Birds 11 Seats of authority 12 Communists 13 Madrid cheer 32 Biblical 65 Plant place disease 35 Dwell 66 Certain 36 Plant shoot .37 Roofing material 38 Hangover remedy 39 Spanish dining hall 41 Greek letters 42 Disease or; the hair 44 Spheres 46 Light meal 47 French river 48 A stone 49 Lyric poem 50 A gland 51 Attentive 52 Felony 53 U.S. President 14 Eastlndian54 Roof herb 15 Bar offering 16 Fictional Mr. Gray 19 Pries nosily .20 Italian city 23 Growing out edges 55 Down- at- heel 57 Practical joke 58 Winged 61 Anoints (archaic) 62 Fissile lock 26 Prevalent 63 Loose 28 Inclination woman parties 67 Paper ingredient 69 Stitchbirds 70 Female praying figure 71 Arrived 73 Tpothlike 74 Pampered 75 Throes 76 French schools 77 Shipworms 78 Asian deer 79 Apex 80 Mexican blankets Escaped 82 Appraised 85 Puts on the alert 86 Careless 90 Intrigue 93 Bare 94 Not masc.

or fern. 95 Agave fiber Steak order 97 Sagacious 99 Govt. org. 101 Menu item 103 A quick escape Average time of solution: 65 minutes. VA.

August 1974.. Sun Gazette-Mail.