Independence Day (1000 Books to Read)

This is such a well-written book. It deserved the Pulitzer, and it is another one I never would have read if it had not been for the 1000 Books to Read Before You Die List. :) 

What does "Independence Day" really mean for the main character, Frank? 

This is another story about what Thoreau terms a life of "quiet desperation," and I often wonder what the life of the author is like. The book is sad but satisfying to read.  

And I have to tell you something funny, I picked this out of the list because the movie, Independence Day, was on TV, and I thought, "I'll record it and read the book first." I was halfway through the book, still expecting aliens to show up and thinking how much time this author spent on character development versus the action of aliens, when I realized this was a different Independence Day! LOL! 

Here is why James Mustich thinks it should be one of the 1000 Books You Read Before You Die:

James Mustich

In the course of a July Fourth weekend, Frank Bascombe tries to sell a house to an intransigent couple, has a date, checks in on the residents of his rental properties, and drives to Connecticut to pick up his troubled adolescent son for an unfortunate jaunt to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Possessed of an anxious self-assurance, Frank’s perceptions and emotions are genuine enough to shine searching lights on our own experience; we’ve heard his voice before, inside our own heads. Depicting Frank’s hopeful fumblings toward his son, his ex-wife, his girlfriend, and—most of all—himself, Ford offers a heartrending but exhilarating anatomy of human feeling. This is a wise and welcome book, revealing life, and teaching us something about how to live it.