his predicament in the world around him. In essence, the entire book is a diary of observations. I particularly enjoy the short but cute summaries of two decades of history. For instance, when the book reaches the sixties, Amis writes: "Cars are fatter and fewer, and imitate animals with their wings. Syringes are no longer disposable. The standing of doctors in society is higher than evereveryone smokes and drinks and messes around. No one works out." Often the reader would not realise the significance of some of these observations until he reaches the last third of the book. And when the narrator talks about the "unkind" deeds that Tod Friendly had been doing, like taking toys from children or stealing money from the church bowl, he is really describing Tod's search for redemption. "The forgiving look you get from everybody on the way in - Tod seems to need it, the social reassurance. We sit in line and worship a corpse," observes the narrator. In another particularly sharp observation by the narrator, he says, "[Tod] has stopped driving to Wellport, but I bet he misses our time there, its vigourlessness so safe and morally neutral." Other less subtle observations include Tod's nightmares and self-inflicted injuries at night, both of which are obvious demonstrations of guilt. Much of the suspense of the book is provided through the technique of foreshadowing. We know from very early on through his dreams and his conversations with Irene that Tod has a dark secret, and once he starts moving houses (and eventually changing names), it becomes increasingly apparent that Tod Friendly is on the run, especially when every December he gets a letter in primitive code advising him that the weather continues to be "temperate" in New York (while one year he reads that the weather, "although recently unsettled, is temperate once more!"). The first clue to Tod's involvement in the Second World War comes like this: "There is another wa...
