James Salter

Returning to America after World War II, former naval officer Philip Bowman finds a position as a book editor and loses himself in a world of intimate connections and surprising triumphs until he is betrayed by the woman he loves, which sets him on a course he could never have imagined for himself. 35,000 first printing.

A Novel

All that is

Donald

There is a lot of sex in this book. It's about the relationships between men and women, which is the most interesting thing in the world, after war. And there's a bit of war in here too.

From his experiences as a naval officer in battles off Okinawa during World War II, Philip Bowman returns to America and finds a position as a book editor. He soon inhabits a world where marriages fail as affairs ignite, alcohol reigns, writers struggle, and publishers hustle. It is a world in which to immerse himself, a world of intimate connections and surprising triumphs. But the deal that Philip cannot seem to close is love: one marriage goes bad; another fails to happen; and, finally, he meets a woman who enthrals, then betrays him, setting him on a course he could never have imagined for himself. Written with Salter's signature economy of prose, All That Is fiercely, fluidly explores a life unfolding in a world on the brink of change: a dazzling, sometimes devastating labyrinth of love and ambition, of the small shocks and grand pleasures of being alive. All That Is is a sweeping, seductive love story set in post-World War II America that tells of one man's great passions and regrets over the course of his lifetime and draws together the great themes of Salter's writing: warfare, love, sex and marriage, and what it means to write.

All That Is

Gary Homewood

The life story of a privileged white male (east coast American). Brief sketches of war experience followed by a career in publishing, failed marriages and relationships. Cleverly written with short narrative arcs following many minor characters, but also misogynistic and self-obssessed. Depressing instead of poignant.

All that is A Novel

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