This is a well-paced literary novel that explores relationships, loneliness, and the irrationality of longing for a thing one will never have. I loved it. The writing is clean and beautiful, and there is attention to words here like I rarely see in contemporary fiction--Burns has that ability to bring you into his character's world through the richness of details. The story is one that most people will be able to relate to, if in their own way, if ever the reader has take for granted another's role in his/her life. This is also a story about what it means to start over.