[In "Bread Upon the Waters," Irwin Shaw details] the burdens of limitless bounty, the temptations of accepting overwhelming generosity, the attempts to keep a family together when outside forces are threatening its preservation as a tightly knit unit. But there is much more here, and if we accept this novel as only a Santa Claus fantasy gone awry, we are doing its author a great disservice. Allen Strand is a curiously old-fashioned man adrift in a culture moving too swiftly for him, protected from the intrusion of modern everyday realities by an overindulgent family. Largely because of Hazen's entrance into his life, he begins to learn—slowly and painfully—that surface appearances (like the book's fairy tale plot) are not to be trusted. Through his narrator-hero, Mr. Shaw is really addressing himself to problems that should be troubling any thoughtful American: the use and abuse of power, the corruption of government and business, urban blight, the chasm separating the unimaginably wealthy and the desperately poor, the cultural emphasis on youth and beauty, the fragile line between failure and success, fantasy and fulfillment, life and death.
This dangerous high-wire act, the blending of a fast-paced story with thoughtful introspection, is executed with seeming effortlessness by the author—a sure sign that he has worked long and hard to master his craft. The prose throughout is clean and spare, perfectly suited to the deceivingly plain tale he appears to be telling. The first chapter alone could be taught in creative writing courses across the land as a model of concise exposition. Calling upon his past as an accomplished playwright, Mr. Shaw uses dialogue almost exclusively to introduce and bring to life each member of the Strand family; Caroline's entrance with the bleeding man she rescued could well serve as a first-act curtain. In succeeding chapters, he fleshes out each of the major characters, giving them dimension and reality, while devoting as much care and attention to the large cast of supporting characters who move through his intricate and surprising plot.
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