Just got through the first short chapter and I do like the writing style. Doctorow has grounded the novel in a setting of New Rochelle, NY in the early 1900’s, his narrator a young boy living in a typical neighborhood of middle class families.
And how could you not like a book that starts chapter 2 with:
As it happened Houdini’s unexpected visit had interrupted Mother and Father’s coitus. (p. 13)
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology