The Sportswriter is a first-person narrative told by a former novelist with a gift for language and a tendency to philosophize. It is a book that deeply exposes us to the thoughts and feelings of its narrator and in a sense induces us to try to see the world through his eyes, even if the experience forces us at last to pull back from that viewpoint and consider what Frank has told us. The book takes place over the span of only three days, so Ford pays close attention to the moment-by-moment details of Frank's life and to the memories his experience brings to the surface. Although the book is set during an Easter weekend, it is an ironic tale of rebirth—or by the most optimistic reading, a tale of minor rebirth— and the holiday is primarily a secular one as described in the novel...