Luminous. That's the word that comes to mind in Dillard's prose. It shimmers off the page. Dazzles in the waves like a day at the beach. (Bring the sunblock.) A distilled and stark story of a long marriage, more of a meditation on love than of characters who actually live and breathe. The end satisfies the means, however, in the final chapters, where The Maytrees at long last have reconciled their lives together. You'll never a read a kinder, gentler death scene than Toby's passing. "Tomorrow is another day only up to a point."