Through the quartet of characters that gives this amazing novel it's name, the reader gets not only a kaleidoscopic, astringent and penetrating picture of life in America from 1918 to 1944, as seen through the development of four strikingly realized personalities; but also a dramatic, pungent and thrilling commentary on all life itself.
The four men-- a rich boy, an East Side New York Jewish lad, a budding doctor, and a "Mamma's Boy," only son of a widowed mother-- first met as members of a crew of a submarine in WWI. One night, they went on leave, and during the course of a boisterous evening decided that they would get together again, whatever happened, after 25 years. Shortly afterward, the submarine was accidentally sunk, in a Massachusetts harbor, and these four boys-- none of them over 22-- were among the few survivors. Their thrilling rescue bound their lives even closer together...
After the war their lives followed widely different paths, but they never entirely lost sight of each other.
