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Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

At 16, Loren, the American narrator of this patchy debut novel is learning to play flamenco guitar:``On my guitar case I had written a large sign `I am not a folk singer.'" She writes a letter to the author of a book about gypsies, who sends back a napkin from a bar in the Spanish pueblo of Morn with the message "`Ven, si tu quieres.'' And so she goes. The writing about Morn and Loren's life there (she will be drawn back over and over for many years) is beautiful, but it often has a condescending edge. For example, an anecdote about how the flamenco king of Morn did not own a guitar until the village held a benefit to buy him one is sweet, but the narrator seems blind to the economic reality surrounding her, believing that these people live on art. She is immediately accepted into the flamenco fold (although she knows little Spanish) and insists that ``In Morn a bonding can occur which is immediate and serious.'' Less convincing are the reminiscences of her dead brother Aaron, who used to barricade himself in his room to avoid going to school and eventually moved to California, where he overdosed. Ross is better off when she sticks to the concrete details of the flamenco life, as when Loren discusses the pros and cons of attaching the long guitar-playing nails with Crazy Glueit's strong but tends to cause the real nail underneath to rot, in case you were wondering. (Dec.)