This book promises a refreshing change from the often banal offerings of American literature. It delivers. It is a peculiar little book--and one of the best I've read in a while. It reveals itself quite slowly, but besides being a modest little book and full of hope, it is a well written and clever examination the quest for meaning in modern life. Stylistically, I would place it with Sartre's "Nausea", Dostoevsky's "Notes from Underground," and Hamsun's "Hunger". Philosophically, the story is more optimisitic and more modern. If you enjoyed those, give this book a try.

The narrator of this fine book attempts banality, but comes nowhere close to it. The writing is original and fresh. The dialogue is handled very well indeed, and it is a cosmopolitan voice (oh, yes!) that speaks to us from these pages. And a voice that finally manages to escape the confines of literature and present itself as pure and unfettered. The book is funny too, in parts. And did I mention the dialogue--it is really well written. Heck, I enjoyed this book a ton.