Overall, I thought this book was pretty dull. It belongs to a small sub-genre of books that our book club seems to hit on occasionally, which I would call "books about morose (often Jewish) middle age (or older) men trying to make sense of their lives." Others in the book club seem to like them, but I rarely connect...so maybe it's just me. I find the characters mostly unlikeable, the overall mood very blah and the stories pretty plot-less, and this one was no exception. (Others books I'd put in this category that we've read in the last few years: "Blue Nude," "The History of Love," and - sort of - "Super-Cannes.")