Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It is interesting to me--but not surprising--that a tiny segment of this book's readers give it low marks. I detect two consistent themes in those reviews. Before I get to that, let me put in writing my FIRST reactions to this novel: creative and complex story, daring approach, flawless context, remarkably courageous personal insight, glib-witty-brutal-unflinching narrative. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even when it made me itchy and twitchy and feel uncomfortably exposed. And THAT brings me to the second theme in those negative reviews. (I'll get to the first one in a moment). Be assured, if you decide to read this book you're going to find little pieces of yourself and of people you know or care about woven through the cast of characters. And it won't be the best pieces, either. It will be the quirks and traits and harsh sentiments that all of us hope to keep hidden, not only from others but from ourselves, as well. Not everyone can look at that kind of naked emotion and see it as powerful, revelatory writing. Some of us are going to find it uncomfortable enough to dislike the book and to find flimsy complaints on which to blame that dislike: characters, language, writing style. And some of us are going find it uncomfortable enough to dislike the book but recognize nonetheless that it is a riveting story told with skill, imagination, and intelligence, and therefore we have to go for criticism number one... the ending. And those are the criticisms that make the least sense to me. I can't imagine, after nearly 500 pages of wandering around in the skulls of these characters, what sort of happy or tragic or poetically just ending the critics might have anticipated. The end of the book (but certainly not the end of the story) is as natural and logical as all that leads us to it. Granted, that's not very natural or logical for most of us, but it's what THESE characters would do; it's what they DESERVE. And in that there is a sort of literary integrity. It's not a Hurray! or a Yahoo! or a Gotcha! It's not TV. It's a continuation of the lives these pathetically twisted people have knowingly, willingly, compulsively built for themselves. (Addendum: If you might choose to read this book, be aware that the dissenting comment below from gypsy03 is welcome and appreciated, but it IS a plot spoiler and NOT so labeled. You might want to skip it.)