Thank you Simon and schuster and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

This author is so clever and witty that you’ll forgive the missing parts of the plot. It moves very quickly. It could have been ever better if there was more focus on the story and plot line.

Great idea and concept for a book. A thoroughly enjoyable read. Highly recommended. .

This book is original, that is without question. It has its witty moments but still feels like it's trying to be more than it needs to be.

I don't think I connected to the writing style in this book. It had great initial reviews which is why it interested me. It also did the subtle pastel illustrated cover thing before EVERYONE was doing it. I could see why people might enjoy this but again, the writing, word choice, sentence structure, who knows exactly what it was, just did not connect with me as a reader and keep me engaged.

"I Never Wanted Anyone To Say Of Me, 'He's Breathing On His Own Now.'".

You see all those fantastic reviews and blurbs and promotional bits and "in house" Simon & Schuster praise? It's all true.

This isn't a plot driven book and the plot as it is isn't worth summarizing. This is a long book, but it could be shorter or longer, and that would be fine. Aldo and Liam are the two characters in search of redemption and hope that every fledgling writer wishes he could write. But Toltz actually can.

I like the wit, the edge, the raucous and striking dialogue. Liam wants to write about Aldo because "[it will] inspire people. To count their blessings". There are lots of books that feature losers, reprobates and unattractive people. There are even more that feature sad sacks, and the clueless or hopeless, or the lost. But few, if any, of those books will grab and hold your attention.

Maybe this is the best recommendation - I've reads a lot of books lately by the new, sneering and smarmy, 30-ish literary lion boys, who offer an MFA, supremely confident and articulate word-mastery, and exactly zero understanding of anything except their own navels, and maybe the navels of the few people they know who are exactly like them. This book is different. It's big. It looks at the whole world. It is clever and witty and well crafted - in the service of actually saying something interesting. It is high literature and low comedy, wrapped and embraced in good humor and and piercing understanding. Yeah, it's that good.

Or maybe this - if you were the type of reader who likes to underline, (or snip, or annotate, or whatever it is you do on e-books), and you decided to save the best one-liners, you would end up with, conservatively estimating, at least three or four hundred quotable and worth thinking about lines. Are you kidding me? Sure, it's too long and helter-skelter. But, I'm happy to skim a little here or there, maybe to step away for a bit, maybe even switch to another type of book for a while, if I know I can come back to this admirable work and just, plain, enjoy it.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)