--"FRED'S WAY is a coming-of-age novel about a young man torn between going off to college to become an ordained Lutheran pastor or staying home in Chicago to marry his high school sweetheart. It resonates with the agony of someone trying desperately--and often comically--to find his place in a world that refuses to fit his innocent expectations. The central character, Fred Hansen, is at root a mystic, alive to the wonder and glory of life. Like a latter-day Don Quixote, he's never quite in synch with what others call reality, including the scientific world view of his premed roommate, Jimbo;...