bare prose and war-themed story, i didn’t really expect to get drawn into the characters but did in the end. interesting how the story existed so much in its present; so little of the characters’ backgrounds were illuminated and no future was hinted at by the end. enjoyed the descriptions of mountains but wasn’t sympathetic to the dude until pretty late and predicted the denouement—which being the very end of the book made the whole thing seem so abrupt. italy in the summer? “dusty.”