After a while the characters all seemed to be the same, losers, slackers, coke heads, narcissists, perverts, misguided, lazy, suicidal, etc. There wasn't a lot of depth and for the most part Lipsyte's stories just skimmed the surface. Maybe I would've been more into them if I was a guy with a shady past, but with lack of depth or and intrigue I just wasn't interested in any of these stories. The saving grace was that his word was short and his dialogue is funny. He obviously knows this generations slacker or at least that guy who hoped to be better off than his is and just doesn't care to grow up.