At the close of the MinderbenderMaxon wedding ceremony as the couple kiss, the "soulful, soaring strains of the "Redemption Through Love" theme of Wagner's Gotterdammerung float through the air, followed by the ethereal, painfully sweet voices of a children's chorus from Adrian Leverkuhn's Apocalypse, which is then interrupted by the "barbaric cacophonous ensemble of rollicking jubilation" of a male chorus. This odd musical combination essentially describes the technique of Closing Time. The novel is in part a paean to long-term, committed love — that ever-changing mixture of passion, tenderness, friendship, nurturing, and occasionally apathy. It is also a beautiful yet disturbing reminder of the fragility of life. And it is, in its cardboard government and military officials, Catch-22-style dialogue and illogical regulations, such as the Freedom of Information Act, which requires government agencies to release information to anyone who applies for it, except for information that the...