Odysseus Lost

A new novel by John Waters, River City One makes its beginning where most novels find their conclusion: after a series of happy endings. By the novel’s first page, the life story of its protagonist—John Walker—is quite advanced. Walker has already returned from war, gotten married, welcomed a child, graduated from law school, and secured a job at a prestigious law firm. The tale with which the reader is about to engage, however, begins in a space outside of this seemingly perfect domestic life. It begins at a gun range catering to veterans, where Walker frequently encounters Dan, a friend since their first meeting at basic training, “who had tried and failed at several jobs, had ended a marriage,” and yet remained the same person as the day he returned from war, “full of the restless enthusiasm that made him believe anything was possible.”