4
Page 8 -The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, October'13, 1987
Books
From Rockaway
By Jill Eisenstadt
Alfred A. Knopf
$15.95/hardcover
If you pick up Jill Eisenstadt's
first novel, From Rockaway, keep
one thing in mind: this is pleasure
reading. Don't be too quick to
criticize its style.
From the first chapter, one can't
help but start to fear that this is
going to be a long ride of cliches.
Yet the book's cliches serve to show
the staleness of the town of
Rockaway, or "Rotaway" as it is
mock affectionately called, and of the
main characters, a group of young
lifeguards. Their way of approaching
life, by finding excuses to party,
whether on a prom night, a
drowning, or the burning of the
town's theater, is the norm in
Rockaway.
One of the young women is able
to finally escape this stagnant town.
The character Alex earns a college
scholarship which is out of the
ordinary for her group. In Rockaway,
Alex is. scared "to think that
everything ends up into Before and
After: Before and After School,
Timmy, prom night." Unlike her
boyfriend, Timmy, and two other
lifeguards, Peg and Chowder, Alex is
not going to go with the flow of
Rockaway and accept the town's
traditions as a measure of the
passing of time.
At college, Alex has her own set
of problems. She has to deal with
new people who at first, like her
group of Rockaway friends, seem to
have been grossly stereotyped on
Eisenstadt's part: there's the radical
that strips in a bar to protest
inflation in a laundromat, a sex-and-
looks obsessed roommate, the
druggies, and "girls who don't wear
underwear, and wax their eyebrows."
Alex's move also changes the rest
of the Rockaway group. Their lives
at Rockaway still go on, of course,
yet now they are more than just
vaguely aware that there is another
world - which Alex represents. For
her boyfriend, Timmy, who sees
himself as having "no idea which
direction anyplace really is, except
New Jersey, where he sometimes
goes surfing on his days off," that
means coming to the realization of
his own shortcomings as a high
school dropout.
However, the novel does not just
focus on Alex's triumphs and the
other group members' failures
because she left and they didn't: it is
about all of them. In F r o m
Rockaway, all of Eisenstadt's
characters have their own share of
personal defeats and triumphs. By
the end of the book though, one
realizes that it is a group triumph
when, a year after prom night, they
are all back together again and come
to the- realization of how much
control the town of Rockaway has
really had on their lives. And better
yet, they come to realize what
control Rockaway does not have on
their lives.
Although the stereotypes are
strong in the beginning of the novel,
Eisenstadt pulls this off. The
characters are really deeper than they
first seem, and deeper than Eisenstadt
first makes them appear. It also
seems that Eisenstadt's use of
incomplete sentences in her "trendy"
writing style shows that she has had
a foresight into what would make
the novel most surprisingly real and
enjoyable.
From Rockaway is recommended
for anyone with a sense of humor.-
And, on the serious side, it is also
recommended for anyone who may
feel trapped by their past.
"Rotaway's" citizens are definitely
held by the powerful grip their past
has on them. Yet From Rockaway,
shows that the degree of influence of
one's past does not necessarily have
to be the same in one's future.
-Marie Wesaw
Balancing Act
The Balancing Act is a relatively new band from out West that will play at the Blind Pig tonight in support of its
new LP 'Three Squares and a Roof' (on Primitive Man/I.R.S. Records). Pictured left to right are Jeff Davis, Willie
Aron, Robert Blackmon, and Steve Wagner. Cover at the Pig is $4, and the band will also play an in-store gig at
Schoolkids' somewhere between 4 and 5 p.m.
'Someone'
is loaded with
far
too
(Continued from Page 6
the casting call. That leads me to
suspect that Scott is more interested
in the metaphoric level of his
material: a number of his little
sequences drive home the imperial
value of domesticity. But a
successful effort along those lines
demands an innovative flair which
Scott does not employ here. After
Ellie learns of Mike's affair, she
wany clic
visits a gun club and takes aim at
the groin area of a paper target.
Ouch! Cliches like that blast film
creativity right through the balls.
Moral simplicity damns this
film: you not only can go home
again, you must. Mike realizes that
he'll never be a very good opera date,
so he wins Ellie back by protecting
her from the outlaw who inevitably
threatens their humble home (the
notion that Mike is fated to return to
his proper place, however, doesn't
strike me as particularly romantic).
If Scott wanted to defuse the
Quinn Martin melodrama and remain
true to the script's populist origins,
he could have skipped the shoot-out.
Picture Tom Berenger in the ruby
slippers, clicking his heels together
and murmuring in his best
stereotypical Tony Danza accent,
"Dere ain't no place like home, dere
ain't no place like home... "
Interested in writing about film, theater,
music, books or dance?
JOIN THE DAILY'S
ARTS STAFF
hes
JibL
mlID
U
I
E
S
1'
LIB-
R
A
4
W.O.R.
.S.H.O.P.S
The University Library offers workshops
on searching online databases via DIALOG
and BRS. These brokers offer access to
more than 300 databases. Databases
are available in the following broad
subject fields: business, education, life
sciences, medicine, physical and applied
sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Examples of individual databases are:
MANAGEMENT CONTENTS, ERIC
(Educational Resources Information
Center), BIOSIS (Biological Abstracts),
MEDLINE (Index Medicus), COMPENDEX
(Engineering Index), DISSERTATION
ABSTRACTS ONLINE, and ARTS AND
HUMANITIES SEARCH.
Faculty, students, and staff are invited to
enroll to learn how to do your own online
searching, and/or to understand what is
involved when library staff does an online
database search for you. Library staff
can assist you in acquiring your own BRS
and/or DIALOG account. For additional
information, contact any campus library or
send a message using the MTS message
system to ONLINE SEARCHSERVICES.
Additional courses will be announced in
the Michigan Daily.
BRS System Seminar -
This workshop is designed for novice
BRS users who have little or no previous
experience searching the databases
available on BRS. BRS Information
Technologies is a commercial company
that brokers access to bibliographic and
full-text databases.
The seminar covers basic system
commands, Boolean search techniques,
and database selection. The lecture
includes a discussion of sample search
questions and how to construct search
strategies. Online practice time is
provided.
Prerequisite: None
Dates and Times:
Sept. 29 10:30am-12:30pm
Nov. 10 9:30-11:30am
Location: Undergraduate Microcomputer
Center (fourth floor)
Instructor: James Crooks
Registration: Required, send to
University-Library-Courses using the
MTS mesacae svtem or cal 93624.n
Basic system commands, Boolean
search techniques, and database selection
are covered. The 4ecture includes a
discussion of sample search questions
and how to construct search strategies.
The two-hour session also provides online
practice time.
Prerequisite: None
Dates and Times:
Oct. 6 10:30am-12:30pm
Nov. 17 9:30-11:30am
Location: Undergraduate Microcomputer
Center (fourth floor)
Instructor: James Crooks
Registration: Required, send to
UniversityJLibrary-Courses using the
MTS message system or call 936-2408.
Fee: No charge.
BRS Colleague System Seminar -
This workshop is designed for people
with existing access to BRS Colleague.
Participants learn basic system features
and Boolean search techniques, and also
receive an introduction to the MEDLINE
database.
After a short introductory lecture
participants use their own Colleague
passwords to access the system. During
the practice time, librarians are available to
provide assistance with system commands
and search strategy design.
Prerequisite: Participants should have
access to BRS/Colleague.
Dates and Times: Sessions will be
scheduled for groups of.10 or more.
Location: Alfred Taubman Medical
Library
Instructors: Librarians, Alfred Taubman
Medical Library
Registration: Required, call Barbara
Shipman to arrange classes (763-2037).
Fee: No charge.
Going Online -
The 15 minute video Going Online.:
An Introduction to the World of Online
Information (published by Learned
Information, Inc.) offers a concise,
highly comprehensible overview of online
searching. It explains the online searching
process in theory and demonstrates
Prerequisite: None
Dates and Times:
Sept. 22 10:00-11:00am
Nov. 5 10:00-11:00am
Location: Harlan Hatcher Graduate
Library Classroom 806
Instructor: University Library Staff
Registration: Required, send to
UniversityJ.ibrary-Courses using the
MTS message system or call 936-2408.
Fee: No charge.
Introduction to Pro-Cite -
Preparing bibliographies for publications
or papers is often a time consuming,
task. This workshop introduces Pro-Cite,
the bibliographic information management
system that allows you to create a personal
database of bibliographic citations and to
produce perfectly formatted bibliographies
automatically. Workshop participants will
have the opportunity to build a practice
database and will learn the basic principles
of storing and retrieving information
through keywords or subject headings
using the software. The workshop uses
Zenith microcomputers; a Macintosh
version of the software is also available.
Prerequisite: None
Date and Time:
Oct. 30 9:00am-noon
Location: Undergraduate Microcomputer
Center (fourth floor)
Instructor: University Library Staff
Registration: Required, send to
University library-Courses using the
MTS message system or call 936-2408.
Fee: No charge.
Computerized Literature Searching
Using Wilsonline -
If you have ever searched Reader's
Guide to Periodical Literature, Social
Sciences Index, General Science Index or
any other periodical index, you may want
to consider using Wilsonline, an online
information retrieval system providing
access to 15 frequently used databases.
The workshop provides an introduction to
the principles of Boolean search strategy
and to the content and commands of the
Wilsonline system. Participants will have
the opportunity for "hands-on" searching
Using the Labadie Database -
The Labadie database is a subfile
of pamphlet and serial holdings of the
Labadie Collection, which is part of
the Department of Rare Books and
Special Collections, University of Michigan
Libraries. The Collection's holdings are
mainly in the areas of Social Protest and
Reform Movements, including Labor, Gay
Liberation, Feminism, Left and Right Wing
Movements, and Anarchism.
The seminar covers basic Spires
commands; used to search this MTS
database. The lecture includes a
discussion of sample search questions
and how to construct search strategies.
Online practice time is provided.
Prerequisite: You must have an account
on MTS (CCID).
Date and Time:
Oct. 14 1:30-3:30pm
Location: Undergraduate Microcomputer
Center (fourth floor)
Instructor: James Crooks
Registration: Required, send to
University-Library-Courses using the
MTS message system or call 936-2408.
Fee: No charge.
Women's Music Collection -
The Women's Music Collection (WMC)
is a database created by the staff of
the Music Library. WMC indexes the
musical works of 2000 women composers
publishing between 1750 and 1950. The
database includes songs, operas, and
chamber music. The seminar covers
basic SPIRES commands used to search
this MTS database. Boolean search
techniques, and database selection. 'The
lecture includes a discussion of sample
search questions and how to construct
search strategies. Online practice time is
included.
Prerequisite: You must have an account
on MTS (CCID).
Date and Time:
Oct. 27 9:30-11:30am
Location: Undergraduate Library
Microcomputer Center (fourth floor).
Instructor: James Crooks
Registration: Required, send to
University-Library-Courses using the
MTS.message system or call 936-2408.
Fee: No charge.
i
I
I
Using the RLIN Database -
RLIN (Research Libraries Information
Network) allows searches in a machine-
readable database that holds the
equivalent of the University of Michigan's
own card catalog (most materials
cataloged after 1975), catalogs of other
major research libraries, and cataloging
produced by the Library of Congress.
Searches can be made by using personal
and corporate names, titles, and subject
headings.
The seminar covers basic system
commands, Boolean search techniques,
and database selection. The lecture
includes a discussion of sample search
questions and how to construct search
strategies. Online practice time is
provided.
Prerequisite: None .
Dates and Times:
Oct. 6 10:30am-12:30pm
Nov. 5 9:30-11:30am
Location: Undernraduate Micrncnmnuter
I
.i
r