Leaving Losapas

A Vietnam vet struggles to make peace with his past. Leo Markin leaves the working-class Boston suburb of Averill Beach shortly after high school, joining the Marines and serving in Vietnam. Physically and spiritually wounded by his war experiences, he retreats to the Micronesian island of Losapas rather than go home. Seven years later, the arrival of an American visitor with ties to Averill Beach shatters his illusive tranquility, and he returns there to find his father a broken man, his hometown in decline. Against a backdrop of ethnic and class rivalries, Markin discovers who he is and where he ultimately belongs. Patches of awkward writing and a somewhat melodramatic conclusion occasionally diminish the power of a strong theme, but the novel is notable for its vivid depiction of two very different locales.