Why do people seek to imprison those near them? There is a subtext of confinement and the issues that are generated from it in this book.

Will's - the male protagonist - recently deceased wife was confined to a wheelchair, did she confine him to an early retirement and others to an old folks home to put them in the same position?

Allie - the female protagonist - escapes from a mental home and avoids her parents trying to re-institutionalize her. Allie's confinement is less subtle than Will's.

In the novel they help each other break out.

Another open question here is whether there is a God and love or feelings of such are chemical products that can be manipulated by science.

Good stuff. However, I didn't love this book. It dawdles. It could be more balanced between Allie and Will. Will gets boring.

Percy has a style where he tells you a big dramatic happening and then goes back for 10 pages to explain how that happening came to be. It should be used more selectively. Also Will makes a literary joke about AE Housman, which I felt was totally out of character. Other authors have written mentally abnormal characters better than Percy does Allie.

This book was recommended because I liked Flannery O'Conner. I understand because they both write about the South. However, Percy doesn't have her force, drive, or exceptionalism.