Swimming across the Hudson

You finish Swimming Across the Hudson feeling grateful for Mr. Henkin's pose and seriousness of purpose--particularly in an era in which so many talented young writers are content to play "Can You Top This?" with snide, hurdy-gurdy irony. Mr. Henkin's young narrator grew up abiding his parents' simple rule: "You love your family; you stand on the picket line for the rest of the world." His lesson, at the close of this admirable novel, is that family and politics can indeed be pried apart--but only at tremendous cost. -- The New York Times Book Review, Dwight Garner