ONE SUMMER OUT WEST by Philippe...

ONE SUMMER OUT WEST by Philippe Labro, translated by William R. Bryon (Available/Ballantine: $7.95). Labro’s engaging tale of a foreign student’s coming of age in a Colorado forestry camp during the early ‘50s reflects the French fascination with the American West. “I was right,” the narrator observes, “there is a mystery about the West that I am unraveling, gradually, day by day. But I was wrong: In the West, things are not as simple as they seem. . . .” Although the hard physical labor and rough-and-tumble life in camp toughens him, “Frenchy” remains a student. The taciturn camp boss teaches him to appreciate the beauties of nature; a mysterious drifter teaches him to handle himself in a crowd of losers, hicks and roughnecks; an aspiring folk singer teaches him to love. An unusual and affectionate outsider’s view of the mystique of the West.