The action of The Solid Mandala is divided evenly between Arthur and Waldo Brown. The first and last sections of the four-part novel, narrated from an omniscient third-person point of view, describe events before and after the climactic moment in the Brown brothers’ lives. The two middle sections are narrated from each brother’s point of view; both recount in quite different ways the story of their lives up to the fateful climax of their relationship.

Arthur and Waldo Brown, fraternal twins, are born in Australia to parents transplanted from England. George and Anne Brown preserve some grandiose ideas about life, and so Waldo and Arthur grow up in the un-noteworthy suburb of Sarsaparilla in an atherwise average house made unusual because of its incongruous classical pediment in front. Arthur is the strong, sturdy son who is slow but also sensitive and kindly. Waldo, by contrast, is physically weaker than Arthur but clever enough to become a dry, unemotional librarian. As they mature,