A brilliant conceit of a novel played out for over forty years of the author’s life. Ostensibly it’s a “good parts” abridgement, filled with all the fun sections that Goldman “remembers” his father reading to him. What it is,though, is a story with only plot details and apologies for dull bits not being written. It’s filled with excuses and excisions and it really shouldn’t work but it has so much heart and love that you can’t help but think of it as a wonderful series of events that came to gradually take over Mr Goldman’s life as the story he will be best remembered for.