Maybe it wouldn't be too bad to live this story for just anyone. Some of us are more independent than others, some are just simple, and some are unemotional. But this is the story of an emotional, intelligent, and complex boy, and a brief year of life with his mother and an extended family.

Paul's widowed mother has left him several times in unhappy circumstances - with his grandparents for several years, and in various institutions. When he finally has the chance to live with her in a family context, he never wants it to end. But it is wartime, and everything is much too complicated and desperate for normalcy to prevail. This is the story of Paul's manic struggle to swim rather than sink in the much-too-adult life current that has collided with his childhood.

This is a very American story, and many American readers will crack a grin as they identify with Paul's maudlin escapist daydreams, as he visualizes himself at the controls of a fighter plane, coming down in enemy territory, and (of course) dying dramatically in the arms of various beautiful women!

A very good read, sad and funny, with a haunting aftertaste.