The Best Novel Out Of America In Many Years, A Funny, Achingly Sad Account Of A Fathers Disastrous Outing With His Son And Much Else Besides Simply, A Masterpiece John Banville, Guardiana Frank Bascombe Novelit Is The Fourth Of July Weekend, And We Meet Frank Bascombe In The Throes Of What He Calls His Existence Period Selling Real Estate In New Jersey And Mastering The High-wire Act Of Normalcy. But As Independence Day Arrives, Frank Is Called Into A Sudden, Demanding Engagement With His Son And With His Life. Independence Day Is A Moving, Peerlessly Funny Odyssey Through America And Through The Layered Consciousness Of One Of Its Most Compelling Literary Incarnations, Conducted By A Novelist Of Extraordinary Empathy And Perception.