I was disappointed by this book, since I'd heard so much about how it was "the best book of the year" and how it had echoes of The Great Gatsby (which I suppose it did, but only in the most derivative ways). Why do reviewers go into raptures about every middling "literary" book that gets published? I found it to be mediocre, although I might have been more generous if my expectations hadn't been built up by all the hype. Perhaps Alberto Manguel was right and it's all a big back-scratching club of novelists and reviewers. Should I even try Edgar Sawtelle or A Mercy?+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Btw, I read both those books at a later point and found them both worth reading, A Mercy in particular.