ANTHONY ADVERSE Hervey Allen Farrar & Rinehart ($3).
Shouldering its way through the froth of summer fiction comes this leviathan of U. S. novels. Pre-eminent in size (1,224 pp.; 2¾ Ib.) but not in size alone, this big-boned romance may well strike terror into readers effetely accustomed to smaller, more playable fish, or to the monotonous diversity of a blank waste of waters. But those readers who allow themselves to be swallowed whole will emerge, some time later, grateful for the experience.
Anthony Adverse is a three-decker, picaresque-historical novel, crammed with enough people,...