After hesitating to read this book, having heard or read that it was depressing (what ain't?) and focused on an unnatural brotherly bond of some kind, I got it anyway, and, so many weeks later, still remember those great scenes: Dominick and the car salesman (a character I think I went to college with) in the car, easing their misery with a joint and a beer; the poor brother overlooking a cliff. The protection one family member feels for another is such a strong thing - and it made a moving base for this novel. But Lamb's being such a verbal painter of an era, a time, a culture of the now middle-aged, is what's so special about his books, I think. Very few authors can take you back - oh, some can take you back to parts you don't want to go to, but not many can take you back to parts you forgot and feel at home in. I hope he keeps it up incessantly.