Harold and Maud is a fascinatingly different, but warmly convincing novel. It's by Colin Higgins, and is the story of two persons who not only affirm each other's existence, but also cherish the mutual meanings they share. A young man in his 20's and an enchanting woman in her 70's become real friends. Maud cares for Harold, not because he is useful or ornamental. He is neither. Not because of anything he does or has, but just because he is himself. Harold is thus better able, when he is with Maud, to understand himself and to verbalize about his many problems. One of those problems is an obsession with repeatedly faking his own self-destruction. Convincingly, dramatically, and in the most gruesome ways, he has faked suicide over and over. In the presence of Maud, he is able both to unders…