The Wapshot Chronicle is divided into four parts: Part One presents a chronological history of the Wapshot family; Part Two alternates in focus from Leander to the misadventures of his sons; Part Three follows Moses and Coverly on their separate paths toward career, marriage, and parenthood; and Part Four recounts Leander's death and funeral and the return of Coverly and his family to St. Botolphs. Representing an artistic departure for Cheever, the methodology of division allowed him to experiment with narrative point of view. Although criticized for being disorienting to the reader, the narrative shifts repeatedly throughout the novel from scenes involving Moses and Coverly to chapters of Leander's journal, producing a seemingly "inexhaustible flow of inventiveness."

It is Cheever's unique blend of whimsy, nostalgia, ribaldry, and pathos that creates his comic vision of a world in ruins but nonetheless capable of grace and continuance. Notably held together...