A fascinating fictional family history, as told by the grandson receiving his grandfather's deathbed confessions? narratives? something of that nature. It is admitted by both these narrators that the narrative will not coalesce satisfactorily; the grandfather hopes the grandson will make it cohesive, but the grandson chooses not to. Many threads, then, are told out of chronology, but they do not come together in a way that creates a deep satisfaction in the end. The effect is instead haunting. Especially the story of the grandmother's madness was interesting to me. Other things that were interesting: the grandfather's earlier memories, which were very different; the shady business dealings on the narrator's father's side of the family, the inevitable question of what the mother's view of all this would be - arguably she suffered the most? The full Uncle Ray story etc.