" . . . a passionate and tormented novel about the summer of 1954 as it transpired in the lives of two young Korean War veterans returning to their Indianapolis homes. . . . it is possible that the current publishing season will produce no book more urgently felt." --New York Times Book Review, August 9, 1970

"A brilliant book." --John Ciardi

"Wonderful, sad and funny; a scathing portrait of middle America through the eyes of a new fictional character who will inevitably be compared to Portnoy and Holden Caulfield." --Gay Talese

Noted author Dan Wakefield's most famous novel seethes with pent-up frustration and confusion and nearly every episode bubbles with hilarity. This novel of the 1950s so perfectly captures its time and place that it transcends the specific and becomes universal--a true classic of American literature. Now a major motion picture.