The Summer of the Sub-Comandante

The Summer of the Sub-Comandante by Kathleene West moves the reader physically and emotionally from Viet Nam to Latin America to Northern Europe with an uneasy home base in the United States. West's characters are peripatetic, crossing and retreating from geographical and political borders as well as the borders of the heart. They may seem elusive, but they are sharply-drawn, appearing to be more comfortable skidding through the jungles of Viet Nam on a motorcycle or advancing into a Chiapas rain forest to find a revolutionary comandante than with social encounters in living rooms, restaurants and fenced yards. Watch them advance into the no-fly zones of relationships where love and war are equally devastating. Through her characters' observations and perceptions West establishes a wry, often-comic, ironic tone that sharply captures the fin de siècle dance of destruction and regeneration. As her characters fall-or jump-into situations ranging from the embarrassing to the perilous, West searches for truth in our confusing world. The Summer of the Sub-Comandante ultimately values truth more than comfort. Kathleene West's enactment of the most difficult, even dangerous, situations shimmer with her poetic language and inimitable humor.