Very interesting. Joe lived two houses away from me when we grew up. He was five or six years older than I so I didn't really know him as a friend. His descriptions of the little town of Hamlet, NC, during the fifties and early sixties were a pleasant nostalgic journey for me. I recognized many of the people, places and events. His story is one of youthful dissipation and bad choices. As a young man, however, he managed to turn his life around. I guessed that this was going to be the direction that the narrative would take. Otherwise, why would the story have ever been written? I was halfway expecting there to be a "Jesus saves" turning point and was pleasantly surprised to read that Joe saved himself.