FICTION : CUSTOMS VIOLATION by Janice Weber (Fine: $17.95; 352 pp.).
Psychologically arrested at age 10 by his parents’ deaths, U.S. Customs agent Floyd Beck, bemused by todays’ mayhem, maladjustment and mammaries, looking for a girl like Mom, is involved with a beautiful veterinarian, so savagely liberated, she performs a sex-change operation on a male dog.
Weber has got inside Floyd’s head and we almost believe in him as a man, for she’s daydreamed up a loving, normal guy, loaded with integrity, consideration and warmth. Will he outwit the whole, hilarious megillah of unsmiling liberationist?
U.S. Customs scenes are comically informative. Anyone re-entering the United States with emeralds imbedded in salami had better think twice: They’re on to you!
Almost every line, scene, and situation has you laughing. So why does Weber leave you with a lump in the throat?
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