This book is so close to being a 5 star for me. But just not quite there. It’s so clearly a radically skilled writer with a distinct voice and vision doing his first novel. This is a book about nothing in the most Seinfeldian sense. And I mean that as a compliment. Portis is interested in atmosphere more than anything. Which I appreciate. Books and movies that are overly atmospheric are risky. But this one works. This feels like “What if Cormac McCarthy wasn’t so fucking biblical and nihilistic? What if he told jokes?”

God I loved this. This is just a nice damn time.