In this episodic novel, Barry Gifford lays bare his young heart, exploring the hopes and disappointments of a uniquely American childhood and adolescence. He recounts his travels with his mother, spent considering the intersection of the landscape and their lives, and an ailing gangster father, most conspicuouly influential in his son's life by his absence. Barry Gifford is all the proof we the world will ever need that a writer who listens with his heart is capable of telling anyone's story.' - Armistead Maupin'