I read the "The Sportswriter" many years ago then found a copy of this novel in the donation pile so decided to read the second in the series. For some reason I always remembers the basics of that first book and this one starts up not long after the last one ends. Frank Bascombe is no longer a sports writer, he is a real estate agent. He is divorces but still pines for his wife...of course he cheated on her and was kind of an ass so it is hard to feel TOO sorry for him. Between the two novels, he set out for France, had a fairly serious but clearly doomed relationship with a much younger woman who was mostly attracted to his money and then a "re-evaluation" that made him return and try to be a good dad. Not sure he is achieving much of anything but this book lands on the long Independence Day weekend where he is taking a "guys" trip with his troubled teenage son and doesn't know how to cope. This is a lot of "white guy" angst which I probably don't care about a whole lot. Ford is a good writer and this novel won the Pulitzer Prize back in 1996. I just noticed there is a third book in the trilogy which I will probably read to finish the set but not right away because Frank Bascombe is just not compelling enough for me to worry how things turned out for him.
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