I've found Berger's Reinhart novels to be a mixed bag. He was never able to match the quality of the best of them (the second novel, _Reinhart in Love_), and hit a particular low point with the third, _Vital Parts_. This novel, however, shows us a more mature Reinhart and a more mature Berger as well. The balance between Berger's caustic satire of American culture and more or less authentic characterization is superb (in fact, this is the first of Berger's novels in which I felt I could recognize "real" people in the characters he represents). In some ways, this book covers too many issues that Berger wished to comment upon (television, religious cults, the emergence of gay culture into mainstream American life, etc.), but it contains some fine and truly touching moments. Reinhart has matured into something more than an idealistic buffoon; he has become a real person who, although he is often puzzled by the actions of those around him, and who still occasionally has flights of unrealistic personal fantasy, has learned to rein in those flights of fancy and keep himself rooted to the ground; in short, he takes himself and the people he interacts with seriously and is forgiving of personal foibles and errors due to immaturity or inexperience in others. It's not the best Thomas Berger novel I've ever read, but it marks a shift into more thoughtful and interesting works as the author entered his 60s.
