I thoroughly enjoyed Kluger's previous books, Last Days of Summer and Changing Pitches, and was hoping the streak would continue with this one - and it did, in spades! As with his other books this one's told in epistolary/bulletin-board/scrapbook form, including lots of memos and emails and the occasional court document; I love the style, and the way Kluger handles it it adds to the immediacy of the story. In a bit of a change from previous books... [to be continued]

[finally finished writing the review - as of 2/27/06! Procrastination, thy name is GoryDetails!]

...this one includes quite a few sections of direct commentary from each of the main characters, so it isn't totally epistolary. This isn't disruptive, though, and helps with the back-story.

As with the previous books, this one's full of varied and likeable characters. There's Travis' friend Gordo, who posts racy photos of himself on his web site to try and attract women and is working on a screenplay; Craig's lover Clayton, whose very presence suggests that Travis' quest isn't going to be as simple as he may have hoped; Craig's law-partner Charleen, who's in love with divorced ballplayer Jody, which complicates their attempts to help him get custody of his son (mainly due to lots of interoffice memos between Craig and Charleen quipping about wanting to see Jody in the shower!). Jody himself becomes a good friend, as does his smart-aleck son (there is a resonance in their characters and relationship to that of the two main characters in Last Days of Summer; seems Kluger can't write a book without putting baseball in there somewhere) - and in fact nearly everybody becomes good friends. And as Travis' road trip picks up momentum, several pairs of characters fall in love, almost as if his longing for his own lost love is making it happen...

Note that it takes a while for the story to get moving; over a third of the book consists of setup and flashbacks, introducing us to the main characters and filling in the details of Travis-and-Craig in their one summer together. But once Travis decides to go looking for Craig the pace picks up - though I found the setup and flashbacks delightful in themselves. "They say that biology limits what two guys can do together, but you sure as hell couldn't prove it by us. 'Oh God,' he groaned, coming up for air. 'What do you call that?' 'Improvisation,' I gasped in reply."

Other good bits include "Travis Puckett's Boyfriend Checklist" - which appears several times as he fills it out for a number of different boyfriends, none of whom (of course) quite match up to Craig. [It's a fun list for anyone, though some tailoring would be needed: divided into beginner, intermediate, and top-of-the-line sets of traits, it includes things like "Can say 'I love you'" and "Isn't hiding another boyfriend", and "Celebrates my faults", and "Pursues making me laugh as a hobby". At the bottom there are strong points and shortcomings ("He killed his last boyfriend (acquitted: involuntary manslaughter)"). I think that one would be a shortcoming!]

And then there's the "Anatomy of a Fight" sequence, in which two characters (I won't say which ones) describe a typical cohabitating-couple spat blow by blow, with dialogue presented as "what's said" and "what isn't said":

You: Could I have the pepper? (what isn't said: Don't you have a political conscience?"
Him: Here. (isn't said: Don't you have a LIFE?)
You: Thank you. (I hate your hollandaise.)
Him: How are your lamb chops? (Know what you need? You need to be spanked and sent to your room).
You: Good. They're good. (I have nothing more to say to you. Ever.)

I'm not sure if I can convey just how much fun this book was, how likeable all the characters were, and how generally joyful (with some tension and teary bits here and there) it all was, but take my word for it. And try this book!

[The only reason I'm not giving this book ten stars is that I found the ending a little bit of a letdown - not unsatisfying, exactly (other than in the sense that I would have liked the book to keep going indefinitely!), but not quite up to the pitch and timing of the rest of the book. But this is still one of my top reads of the year, and has clinched Kluger a place on my "author whose new books I will buy as soon as possible".]

I've had this book for a long time now, and while I still love it, I think it's time this copy went traveling. I plan to leave this book on a table in the hall behind Surf Restaurant at around 1:30 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released as part of the 2016 Heads, Shoulders, Knees, Toes release challenge, for the embedded "os" in the title. ***

*** Released as part of the 2016 Valentine release challenge. ***