Disconcerting is one word that came to mind after I finished this book. Not just for the suspended ending, but also for the subject matter, which felt very different from the other five books by Percival Everett I've read so far. For one thing, there is no satire here, this book is (literally) painful in its earnest representation of marriage, parenthood, work relationships, and above all, loss. Not like I haven't been deeply moved by other Everett books, but this one left me feeling more defenseless than the others, probably because the shield of humor is down in this case. It's probably no coincidence that I found myself feeling that way, as this book is also not about race, unlike "The Trees", "Dr No", "Erasure", "James", or "I Am Not Sidney Poitier". In fact, the protagonist, Zach Wells, a geology professor in Southern California, actively rejects a representation role when his campus' Black student organization sollicit him to protest. It's a layer of Everett's work that is new to me, and a very affecting book.