The obituary of Stephen Vizinczey led me to the film of his first novel, In Praise of Older Women. That, in turn, led me to this 1983 novel about a young man's adventurous life and search for sunken treasure in the Bahamas. It is a big novel in terms of length, scope, and cast of characters, but it feels very intimate. It has humor, pathos, and a Balzac-like roster of rogues. Usually it is death to a novel when the writer tries to show off; but Vizinczey writes with such apparent ease and evident skill that it's not showing off: He's just that good.
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