WINTER EYES by Lev Raphael (St....

WINTER EYES by Lev Raphael (St. Martin’s Press: $8.95; 245 pp.). Lev Raphael’s gracefully written first novel continues his exploration of themes that appeared in his notable collection of short stories, “Dancing on Tish B’Av.” Stefan, the central character and sometimes narrator, drifts through his New York boyhood, not knowing who he is, ethnically, religiously or sexually. His parents are so determined to bury the memories of the horrors they endured during the Holocaust, they deny their son all sense of a past. Stefan is rescued from this oppressive vacuum by his gentle, melancholy uncle, a piano teacher who shares his love of music. As he struggles to establish an identity, Stefan inadvertently breaches his parents’ carefully maintained barriers in a series of bitter epiphanies.