This book has "moments" of great writing. It "at times" touches on or "skitters past" some real insights. Possibly it brushes up against them and then glances away. The opening "sequence" chapters, or cards seemed to me to go on forever and I was more than ready to move on. It was a case of "okay I get it, your a ne'er-do-well, your mother disrespects you, your father's dead (and you miss him). It was tragic, he was a drunk, your mother was disillusioned and made him and now makes you miserable. Your life is "crap" and you have no prospects. You love a girl who sleeps with other guys and won't sleep with you. I get it! life stinks! now get on with it!"

Once the book picks up the threads and begins to spin out a plot and a story it's not bad. It has (as a matter of fact) some great passages. Being careful to avoid spoilers, I'll say that the rating suffers from the "overall idea", which I've seen done before (okay, I know most every idea has pretty much been done before now). The problem is (personally) I don't think it was a "great" idea when it was new. It's okay and makes for a "nice" or "cute" twist. The end is okay...you'll probably say, "ya right" but it's not a "bad" ending. Just not great.

Overall I like this book, it's a good middle of the scale read and some will like it much better than that, and let's face it...I'm still unpublished and Zusak isn't, so...... Still, not among the books I'd say I "really" enjoyed, so 3 stars.

Just noticed somehow the sight didn't record my rating...oops. I edited the review and "rated it again".