These are people you can imagine. These are people prior to the age of psychoanalysis. These are people who loved other people, who are curious about things, who want to know about the history of a house, the effect of war on regional flora. They want to know the hearts of their children, their parents, their friends, their lovers. Characters in current fiction are often mired in passionate self-examination or extreme emotional detachment, but the characters in this book are remarkably free of such post-Freudian baggage. The lives portrayed in this book are beautiful without being extraordinary and real without being overwrought. Maybe this book won't change your life - maybe you should read it anyway.
-EF
