Silverberg's quartet of young rebels are a group of ethnically varied students: Eli, the philosophic mind, is Jewish and introspective; Oliver, a Midwestern Protestant with athletic talent, is something of an extrovert but with hidden insecurities; Timothy is a spoiled rich youth; and Ned, the fourth, who longs to be an artist, is a homosexual and excessively aesthetic in his approach to life. These characterizations seem a deliberate effort to make the protagonists a cross section of American youth in the early 1970s. And, since all participate in a kind of unholy crime, all are more or less equally guilty of moral irresponsibility.

Their journey takes place during the Easter vacation, and their quest is surrounded with similar ironies, as the events of the book provide numerous ironic parallels to stories of the search for mystical enlightenment. Their journey is inspired by the discovery of the mysterious Book...