"... 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.