3 1/2 Stars rounded up as more stories should be so heart warming.

This is a sweet story and (pun intended) very charming. I love the premise, I adore Arthur Pepper and his adventures. The people he met and places he visited were just about the right amount of weird, wacky and terribly, terribly normal. The love he had for his wife and for his children is beautifully drawn and shown as the story goes on.

However, I have some small problems with this. I love mad adventures and quite happily novels that have say a rainfall of fish, once the characters act towards this as I would expect them to. I could not dispel my disbelief in Arthur being a real character. About 40% in (I was listening on audio) he quite clearly articulates his journey of self-discovery to a stranger. Nobody would or could do this so early and so soon and certainly not Arthur. Also, small points such as using the wrong name for Facebook is jarring and untrue to the character. Arthur is of my parents' generation and all of them know the term Facebook very well being strongly divided to those who use it every day and those who believe they are too old and couldn’t possibly understand (but they do know the name). I also have another problem about the actions of a secondary character but that is a bit of a spoiler.

There you go I am being a bit of a grump on this. Nevertheless, this is an enchanting, joyful and life affirming read. Recommend if that appeals to you.