THE IRREVERSIBLE DECLINE OF EDDIE SOCKET ...

THE IRREVERSIBLE DECLINE OF EDDIE SOCKET by John Weir (Harper Collins: $8.95). Weir’s first novel focuses on life at the bleak fringes of the New York art world in the era of AIDS. The title character is a dim, post-Warholian drone who attempts to infuse glamour and significance into his barren existence by quoting various authors--aptly or inaptly--and describing everything in terms of old “B” movies. Eddie begins to stir from his torpor when he falls for Merrit Mather, an aloof, older preppy who exudes all the warmth of a sushi tray, but their brief affair collapses under the burden of Merrit’s blithe cruelty and Eddie’s fatal diagnosis. A strong man could defy this tragedy, or be broken by it, but Eddie lacks the resources to confront his fate heroically: Overmatched by disease and destiny, he ends his feeble struggle with a whimper. Neither a cursing Oedipus nor a weeping Lear, Eddie remains a nonentity, pursuing an illusory vision of fulfillment through someone else. An impressive first novel, although Weir has trouble ending his story.