This isn't a book I would normally read, but I tend to now run in the same circles as the author, and bought this book when we were in side-by-side booths selling our wares.

I rode this novel like a rollercoaster. I truly enjoyed the first half, even though it felt much like a good portion of it was dream sequence (a writing trick I despise). Then, the dream sequence part seemed to take over and I found I wasn't enjoying the story as much, even though I realized it was less dream and more Alice in Wonderland, albeit through the twisted mind of the author.

In fact, after going through a series of scenes--with more to come--where it seemed the protagonist was more of a pinball pinging from place to place, meeting different people for no apparent reason, there was a quote that I flagged from the book that, at that particular moment, seemed to echo my state of mind:

Michael doesn't have the patience for these kinds of conversations anymore.

However, within a few pages of that quote, the novel seemed to course correct and I enjoyed it again. I didn't think the revelations at the end were earth-shattering, but they were logical and I saw the work the author put into building to these points.

I guess sometimes you just need to see the whole to appreciate the parts along the way. There's a part of me that still believes this might have been better as a shorter novella, but overall, with the Alice in Wonderland overtones and the David Lynchian undertones, it's absolutely worth the read. ( )