ASPECTS OF LOVE <i> by David Garnett (Vintage: $8.95) </i>

First published in 1955, David Garnett’s short novel is a superficial bit of fluff that deserves to have been turned into a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The skewed romantic polygon at the center of the story involves Alexis, a young British ne’er-do-well; Sir George Dillingham, his wealthy uncle, and Rose, a French actress who somehow rises from unknown to Great Star. The reader never sees the intelligence or passion that would make Rose a celebrated actress: Her success is a contrivance that enables her to take lovers with the casual elan that French women invariably display in English novels. The male characters fare no better. Sir George has all the depth of a monomolecular film; Alexis, the idle drop-out, becomes a career Army officer for no apparent reason. His new discipline allows him to conceive a deep but chaste love for Jenny, the daughter of Rose and Sir George, and continue the romantic improbabilities unto the second generation perdue.