"A memoir wrapped in an elegy... that] maps a strangely stunning life... Wallace] imbues this chronicle with tremendous compassion -- for William, for everyone. This Isn't Going to End Well gives off the particular radiance of a life lived hard, whatever else: as such, a brand of American bildungsroman. There's deep satisfaction to its arc, despite its inherent sadness -- a wondrous glimpse of the melding, in human doings, of fate, character...