Point of No Return

Point of No Return is Marquand's popular story of a junior bank official who has bent himself toward creeping up the financial ladder until he now is within reach of the almost ultimate goal, a vice-presidency. When he reaches this point he discovers that it isn't really what he wanted at all-but it is too late for him to do anything but go on; in the ocean fliers' phrase, he has reached the point of no return. It is a cleverly made story which has a satisfying amount of praise of such cultural pursuits as book-reading and anthropology, and an ending which is happy enough in as much as the hero does win the vice-presidency and all that goes with it.