John Campbell spoke very enthusiastically about this book at the recent Word Festival in Christchurch, and I've always had a weakness for these epic novels that tell the stories of a group of people over a long period of time - the lifetime novel, if you like. This one has the added benefit of characters of my generation. It starts in the early 1970s, at school camp, when a group of 6 students decide to hang out together; they call themselves The Interestings, and the novel traces their lives through many travails until the near-present when they're all in their 50s. Whether or not you will find them actually all that interesting is the point, I guess. There are those that do, and those that definitely don't! I did, and found the book compelling and moving, and although the characters have rich and varied lives, it all seems plausible and real. The connections between them are, in some cases, lost completely, but others stay close, and their experiences, and the social and political backdrop is something my generation have all experienced - the AIDS crisis, Reagan, the end of the Cold War. I really liked this book, and was sad when I got to the end.