Forty years after its original publication, James Agee's last novel seems, more than ever, an American classic. For in his lyrical, sorrowful account of a man's death and its impact on his family, Agee painstakingly created a small world of domestic happiness and then showed how quickly and casually it could be destroyed.

Quotes from the book:

“How far we all come. How far we all come away from ourselves. So far, so much between, you can never go home again.”

“We are talking now of summer evenings in Knoxville Tennessee in the time that I lived there so successfully disguised to myself as a child.”

“Well, now, some people learn a little quicker than others. It's nice to learn fast but it's nice to take your time too.”

Readers' reviews:

“What I treasured about this novel is its simplicity and purity. There is no plot in a traditional sense, no build-up of events culminating in a conclusion, only a story as real and old as time.” (Julie, goodreads.com)

“Agee's autobiographical masterpiece was still in unfinished form when he died—a labour of love for him, he apparently tinkered with its content and structure endlessly.” (Szplug, goodreads.com)

“This isn't a difficult book but it's certainly not traditional. There is practically no profluence beyond the natural causality of a single incident--the death of a good man.” (Nick, goodreads.com)