So it seems that because technology makes it easier to stay in touch while keeping distance, more and more people find themselves feeling distant and never touching.

FORBES: Is Technology Making You Lonely? 7 strategies for building a real social network

Mr. Levin fills in the details so artfully that the reader is caught up in all the characters' lives, feeling the sting of their defeats, engaged in their small but touching dramas.

WSJ: The Old Bunch | Meyer Levin | Destiny's Children | Masterpiece by Joseph Epstein