The grace of exposition, the gesticulative action and characterization, and the sense of details, are all beautifully penned. Likewise, the political, social, and historical are deftly and understatedly expressed. And even though it doesn't amount to much as a tale or story, the anticlimactic culmination (and really the pitiful inertia in general) is an expertly balanced concoction of tragedy and sad irony; as if we had heard the exploits of Lawrence of Arabia through secondary sources and were only left with his motorcycle accident.