FICTION

SOMEBODY ELSE’S MAMA by David Haynes (Milkweed: $21.95; 340 pp) In a fading Missouri town populated mainly by African Americans, the Johnson household is in an uproar. Al is running for mayor; his wife, Paula, can’t recognize her formerly easygoing spouse in his new role as politician. Their 11-year-old twin boys are bickering. Paula has brought Al’s ailing mother, Miss Kezee, down from St. Paul, Minn., to the house where she spent 20 miserable years with Al’s late father. Miss Kezee doesn’t like it one bit.

David Haynes (“Right by My Side”) brings to his portrait of middle-class black people in the heartland much the same patience and attention that Susan Straight brings to their less-affluent cousins in Riverside. Miss Kezee’s impact--she is “evil” and feisty--sends cracks radiating in all directions, and Haynes follows them, exploring three generations of family history in a variety of voices.

For melodrama, look elsewhere. Haynes’ ambitions here are refreshingly modest. He belongs to the old realist tradition that believes that everyday life, if truly rendered, is more than exciting enough. Despite some pedestrian stretches, “Somebody Else’s Mama” justifies that faith. Haynes is especially good with his women characters, and not just Miss Kezee; the give-and-take, compromises and evasions, love and exasperation between Paula and Al make most other fictional marriages look like cartoons.