What readers think of The End of the Point, plus links to write your own review.

Chances are, this book won't grab you on page one. It took quite a bit longer than that to pull me into the heart of what is really a simple story and the souls of what are actually quite complex characters. It was definitely worth the wait.

Written by Elizabeth Graver, this is the story of the affluent Porter family, who own an oceanside summer compound on the two-mile long Ashaunt Point in Massachusetts. When the novel opens in the summer of 1942, the Porters' four children are beginning to grow up. Charlie has just enlisted in the Army, Helen is 16, Dossy is 14, and Janie is 8. The U.S. Army has taken over much of Ashaunt Point, and the presence of the many soldiers is a delight to Helen and Dossy. Janie is lovingly cared for by her Scottish nanny, 36-year-old Bea, who has never married and is falling in love with one of the soldiers. And then something quite frightening happens to Janie that changes much for this family. The book continues marching through the years by focusing on just two of them: 1970 and 1999. The three main sections of the book are told from the point of view of either Helen, Beatrice or Helen's troubled son, Charlie, which has the interesting effect of slightly altering the impression of the past because it's seen through the prism of someone else's eyes.

The greatest strength of this superb novel is the characters, especially as they evolve through the generations—what they do, how they think, and how they deal with life's happiness and tragedies all the while cushioned by old money, a storied family, deep friendships, and all the advantages of privilege. Most important, one of those characters is Ashuant Point, as place and what it means for this family is the primary focus of the novel.

This is an intelligent, serious, and (most of all) literary book with keen observations about life, love, hope, chance, and the fragility of family. But reader beware: This is a slow-moving novel with a negligible plot.

And while it's not a page-turner that kept me reading past my bedtime, it danced in my dreams. As I wandered through my day, I found myself thinking about it — a lot.