At once tender and touchingly tragicomic, this third novel in the
contemporary trilogy containing THE LAST PICTURE SHOW and
TEXASVILLE is a joy to read.  Anyone who has experienced
disappointment with their choices and their day-to-day lives will
be able to identify with Duane --- an oilman in his sixties who up
and decides never to drive a motorized vehicle
again.  

To the consternation of Karla, his wife of 40 years, Duane not only
parks his pickup in the garage for good, his decision to walk
everywhere soon leads to striding away from the family
home.  Jam-packed with grown kids and kids-in-law,
growing grandkids, a bossy housekeeper, and the nonstop energy of
Karla, the family home is hardly Duane's idea of a
castle.  In search of simplification and a little peace
and quiet, Duane takes up residence in his rustic cabin six miles
away.

With a determined and nosy wife, a blind secretary in her nineties,
a best friend mourning a lost testicle, and grown children with
various addictions and attention-span problems, Duane finds that
divesting himself of his present life isn't quite as easy as he had
hoped.  Just when he feels he might be finding his
footing, tragedy strikes.

The story of Duane's depression and the ways in which he deals with
it, replete with such diverse elements as an unusual psychiatrist,
the reading of Proust, and good-deed gardening, is a story worth
reading . . . for its humor, its honesty, and its unique take on
what is most valuable in life.