This compelling novel of an empathetic boy's twelfth summer is a bit like David's summer vacation: it wanders a bit, at time seems to lose focus, and doesn't seem to get much of anywhere. By the end of the story, not much has changed -- except David, who has deepened his understanding of and sympathy for his father.

Punctuated with vivid moments, especially Mr. Moses's stories, it holds readers through the vague, unresolved suspense that David feels every day as he watches his family fall apart and wonders why, and what he can do to save it. At times poignant, at times didactic, it raises many questions that are unresolved, and ends realistically; though the situation hasn't really changed, David has grown, and therein lies hope.

From the Book:
The whole time I was talking to Loren, I was thinking about Mr. Moses and the dream that got away from him. I had never lost a dream like that. I had never really had a dream that was so much a part of me as the old man's dreams. But I was thinking that there were things that were getting away from me, and people I thought I knew who now weren't so clear. Mr. Moses never asked me anything about myself, but I wondered what he knew.