SAM PATCH: BALLAD OF A JUMPING MAN

Bruin, a tame bear, tells the story of his owner, Sam Patch, an adventurer in 1820s America

Bruin, a bear prone to metaphysical speculation, narrates this engaging novel based on the career of stunt diver Sam Patch. The real Patch did train a bear to dive with him, but in Getz's account Bruin himself becomes the protagonist. After eluding Davy Crockett and learning to read books on phrenology, Bruin becomes Patch's devoted companion. Though surrounded by greed and chicanery, the two remain idealists. Patch repeatedly demonstrates the truth of his laconic saying, "Some things can be done as well as others"affirming, according to Bruin, the idea that how one performs a task is more important than quantitative measures of worth. Besides the metaphysics, this humorous book contains many memorable eccentrics on whom Bruin, as an outsider, provides a refreshing perspective. Albert E. Wilhelm, English Dept., Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.