Patchogue is a village on Long Island sixty miles from New York City. After a prologue of facts about Patchogue calling to mind the opening of Moby-Dick, Thomas McGonigle ‘s acclaimed novel divides naturally into three parts: the going to, the being in, and the coming back from Patchogue by way of Bulgaria, Turkey, and Italy. The trip to and from assumes the contours of the oldest journey of all: the search for paradise, impelled by the disappointment of reality.