Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is the first time I've ever felt compelled to write a review, mostly because I'm confused by the number of positive reviews this has received. First, I have to say that this kind of book is a guilty pleasure, insofar as I was not expecting great literature, just a quick, fun read. The prose doesn't have to sing, I just don't want it to actually clunk. Also, I am a big believer in the suspension of disbelief when you read a story of this type. I think that to appreciate any story that pushes the bounds of normal experience you just have to accept the author's vision and go with it. That said, I was continually pulled out of this story by the ridiculous actions of the characters. Not only could I not bring myself to suspend disbelief, I found myself constantly rolling my eyes. As others have also pointed out, why the heck didn't Kyle just ride a bike with a trailer if he needed it, for the 1500 mile trip? Because it would be bad for the plot? Seriously, I couldn't get over that one, the mind reels. Also, why all the references to functioning generators when anything electrical was supposed to be cooked? I could understand government ones that were shielded somehow, like the iPod in the safe, but this was just regular people in their houses. The editing wasn't horrible, and typos don't actually bother me that much, but there's just no excuse for a your/you're error. If I can pick up the errors just casually reading it while also listening to the radio, refereeing the kids, and baking some cookies, I feel the author should be able to also, even if it is self-edited. I read the criticisms that it was full of right wing propaganda, but that didn't really bother me that much; it was not central to the plot and easily overlooked. The religious stuff didn't bother me either because I'm sure in those circumstances many people would be more religious than usual. However, when the preacher told the main character that he (Kyle) must be of God because he's good to people that particular logic pretzel nearly made me lose my lunch. I know many people who are very good to others who don't believe in God. That's not God, that's being a nice person and having morals and values, which can be mutually exclusive to religion. It's possible. So basically, the quality of the writing made it read like a young adult novel. It was kind of superficial and without a great deal of character development or description. In fact, if the main character was twenty years younger and trying to get home to his parents I think it would have made a decent book. As an adult expecting a little bit of depth, I found it unconvincing and kind of annoying.