This might be the best National Book Award winner or finalist I have read. The skill of Glass is impressive. It's about love, family, and children. Don't look for an overarching plot. To write a book like this requires insight into characters and the ability to communicate that insight to your readers. Glass has the skill and talent to do both.
Three viewpoints are used: a father, his son, and a woman they both know. The complex relationships of these three people are examined from both the heterosexual and homosexual viewpoints.
My only nitpicks are that there are plenty of loose threads not tied up by the end of the novel, and the character of the son is not very likable. To me he seems self-centered and selfish, and I wasn't really pulling for him to grow up and get on with his life. The untied threads are only important in presenting a whole, tidy package.
And the novel is written in third person present tense. That's rare, because it is difficult to do well. Glass is an expert at it.
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