I think, at this point, even though this is only the second book of Christ Bohjalian's that I've read, that the man can do no wrong. Is that judgment too premature? We'll see, because finishing this book only made me go onto my library's website to put another, any other, one of his novels on hold. This book is so much--powerful, sad, happy...I can't describe it all! I love that Bohjalian does not write one kind of fiction--I read The Sandcastle Girls (historical fiction) and now this novel (contemporary), and I feel like he is equally as powerful a writer in both genres. 
 This book though? Read it.