I can not praise this book enough. The writing is extraordinary and tells the story of an ordinary man, Who deals with life, and All That Comes His Way, with extraordinary stoicism and acceptance of the shares of others. In this book, John Williams says more about life, in a superbly understated way, in 278 pages, Than Most modern day novelists are reliable to do in books of three times the length. For me, it is a novel Everything That shoulds be, I'm just sorry That It has taken me so long to discover this, Seemingly, Almost forgotten author. I'm now on a mission to read everything else written by _him_.