This was what I choose for my oldest son instead (I had purchased it with the idea of giving it to my second son—I have 5 children so this is busy reading time for me since I am committed to reading what I give). An enjoyable, funny book, more wry than funny. The ending was a little unemotional and I am anxious for my son to read it so we can talk about what we think was going on. It had a film noir feel and maybe that genre's surrender to the shittyness of the world interpolated with an occasional good thing was the point...not sure, but I enjoyed the story.