In this book we follow in the footsteps and the thoughts of a man who experiences the worst: his (firts-time) lover dies in his arms and leaves him in a house he does not know with a two-year-old. Nevertheless, Marias succeeds in writing a rather light-hearted book. You could call this a psychological novel, or a stream-of-consciousness novel. It is both, and it is more: it is a book about life lived to its fullest and about thinking about life. A superb read!