All that is, by James Salter

Maybe this is too much of a “literary novel” for me.  Billed as “an extraordinary literary event….a sweeping, seductive, deeply moving story of the years after World War II,” I found it unengaging and came to dislike the main character, Philip Bowman, and many of the other people who flitted in and out of the pages.  Bowman has returned from service in the South Pacific with no clear career path.  He stumbles into publishing, ultimately ending up as a well-regarded editor at a firm that specializes in (surprise!) literary fiction and the occasional money-making blockbuster.  Along the way he marries, divorces, has affairs, including with a stepdaughter, meets important people.  Then at the end of the book, he is old and reflective.  That's all that is.  OK.  It is very well-written but for me that just wasn’t enough.  289 pp.  seemed like a lot more.