It's hard to know what to say about THE BALLAD OF THE LAST GUEST after an initial reading. Its vaporousness might be a fault or it might, on a second or third read, offer great depth. The short book doesn't just demand attentive reading—it punishes anyone who wants to treat it as a "quick read." The book, not quite a novel, takes its bearings from The Odyssey. Its basic plot outline is that of a man returning home, and its writing takes cues from The Odyssey's most famous reworking, James Joyce's Ulysses, in its stream of consciousness. The book opens with the narrator, Gregor, learning of his estranged brother's death, a fact that he conceals from the rest of his family on his homegoing, and recounts the days of his "stay" with his family, though he spends most of them wandering, his journey psychological and phenomenological as much as literal. As I said, the book is too elusive on a first read to offer clear judgment. Perhaps its main goal is to be intriguing enough to warrant a second read, which it readily accomplishes.