RaveNew York Times Book ReviewMiller’s novel subtly and morosely explores the crisis of Englishness that ties together events of the 20th century with those of the 21st ... The ironies of Rose’s shortcomings — the failure to reconcile his own ideology, how his account offers no dialogue and centers his own voice, how he tasks his daughter with being his reason to live while telling others that \'she owes me nothing\' — make this book not only nuanced and affecting but historiographical. It reads truer than memoir ... As a device, the letter is problematic, especially when Rose details events and conversations his daughter was present for (and when he describes sex stains he and her mother left on the carpet). Another problem is that Rose...writes like a novelist, albeit one I am recommending ... But the unbroken personal account gives us access to a beautifully fraught psyche ... His story becomes a state-of-the-nation novel, in elegiac prose.
