A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE
Peter S. Beagle
Del Rey 1979
PB 256 pgs

The story of foundling love, both earthly and ethereal (as in ghostly), of
two couples as they live amongst the surreal serenity of a cemetery.

Mr.. Rebeck, the former druggist, who abandoned humanity 19 years earlier
for a life of vagrancy in a mausoleum, Mrs.. Klapper the lonely widow,
Michael Morgan the recently deceased teacher who refuses to part with
"reality", and Laura the woman so bored with life that she may have killed
herself, are the marvelously drawn characters of this touching, if somewhat
over the top, romance/fantasy story. Author Beagle portrays each with their
phobias, warts and redeeming qualities, making them all very tangible three
dimensional humans (and recently humans). My only real beef would be with
his (Beagle's) somewhat stilted sense of the timing of events meant to play
upon our emotions. Perhaps it's because it was his first book, written (from
what I understand) at a very early age, but this book has the feel of a
jigsaw puzzle with some of the edges sticking up, as opposed to THE LAST
UNICORN which read seamlessly.

All in all a fine read. 4 out of 5.