THE GENIUS OF DESIRE by Brian...

THE GENIUS OF DESIRE by Brian Bouldrey (Ballantine: $10; 274 pp.). Bouldrey’s first novel depicts a young man’s coming of age in a weird Southern family dominated by a cadre of strong-willed females who style themselves “the Kaiser Broads.” Bouldrey skillfully captures the claustrophobic discomfort of a small town during a humid summer, when the residents long for fresh air--literally and metaphorically. Against this confining background, the narrator experiences his first tentative encounters with death and desire.