Papist
I can't say I identified strongly with anyone in particular but if I had to pick it would be Joe Pope. Interesting how he seems to be a somewhat polarizing figure among the commenteriat.

Me too.

It wasn't a surprise that Joe Pope wasn't part of the reunited "we" and that added to the documentary-like feel of the story for me.

I thought it was explicit that the narrator, in the world of the book, was not Hank Neary. That is, as I recall the latter's departure from the bar was noted by the former, who was still lingering there.

The 'Lynn' chapter is when I decided that the book was more than a pleasant and funny diversion. I'm totally onboard with Tasha's comment that this jarring shift in the narrative underlines Lynn's separation from the rest of the group. Which is why the revelation about Hank's novel was probably my biggest…

(raising hand)

What they said!

I'm not sure the firebombing isn't very much the point of the book. The juxtaposition of that against Muldrow's arguably excessive civilian body count in pursuit of his aims and his survival is striking. The 'war scenes' may be a small fraction of the text but I think we're meant to keep it in mind throughout.

I forgot about that. Nevermind…

Murder?
Playing devil's advocate here, does he actually reveal that he murdered the Kansas girl? All he says is that he buried her. She might have died in a fall, or gotten lost in the snow and frozen to death, etc. I believe we're supposed to wonder about this in the light of the man we've come to know up to that…

Pardon the replying to my own post (dammit, research *then* post) but this was too good to pass up:

Agree that he was obsessed with the notion of camouflage but I don't think he wanted to die. It sure would've been easy to do that from the get-go yet he worked awfully hard to avoid it. Yet he clearly wasn't afraid of it either. Once again a very animalistic attitude, or so it seemed to me.

Absolutely plausible - I knew about the indigenous Ainu people and as soon as I read about the hunters I reckoned that was them.

Muldrow
Nice summary Scott, and there's nothing I would disagree with.

Yup. I enjoyed 'The Woman Chaser' despite wanting to punch the protagonist in the face at regular intervals.

Jane's relegation to a minor role was odd to me too.

Gotta put it in perspective
After her amazingly on-target analysis of Little, Big I know Donna and I are soulmates. But I'm gonna cut Chabon a little more slack than she does.

That last sentence? What he said.

I hate to be the "me too" guy but… me too.

Pretty good… I'm in!