Enter the guardian angel

One of the book’s boldest—and best—choices is its narrator: an omniscient, wisecracking guardian angel who comments on humanity with equal parts affection and exasperation. This voice is consistently funny and unexpectedly moving. It gives the novel a cosmic perspective without ever drifting into sentimentality.

The angel’s commentary elevates scenes that could otherwise feel ordinary: a kitchen full of wine-soaked friends becomes a cathedral of memory; a tennis match on clay turns into a meditation on storms and ego; a YouTube sing-along becomes an inventory of human longing. The narrator offers spiritual insight without preaching—always sly, often poetic, and occasionally profound.