A short novel/longish novella that's in a way an extension of the Walter Mitty idea. Young Colin knows nothing of his father except that he must have fought -- and died? -- in Europe during World War II. His mother won't tell him anything; neither will any of the other adults around him. So, as he wanders around his postwar neighbourhood, Colin acts out some of what he believes his father's glorious adventures must have been -- and making of them a mental movie whose script Barkers offers us intertwined with the main narrative. The effect's often very funny, sometimes extremely moving. Still, I think Barker was wise not to try to extend this to a full-scale novel; The Man Who Wasn't There is just long enough the way it is.

Oh, and it has nothing to do with the Coen Brothers movie of the same name.
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Interesting book that will probably reveal more upon re-reading. It leaves plenty to the reader's imagination, and although that can be intriguing, it also makes the themes and main storyline hard to grasp at times.