I guess this goes on the "mainstream" shelf...the fact that it's the only book there right now says something about my tastes in reading. Anyway, I bushing loved this book. The end.

Oh, well, I guess I could go into some detail. The characters are fun, the stories they have are enthralling, and the settings are wonderfully described. The plot moves in a less-than-linear fashion, with flashbacks forming a significant portion of the book, but that's just fine.

And not only are the characters fun, they're also human. They have flaws. They make big, huge mistakes that hurt the people they love. One of the characters could have been a great lawyer, if he hadn't been an alcoholic. Another loves his mother, but since he's schizophrenic, his love is often expressed oddly. Yet another one basically caused his own daughter's suicide because of certain details of his past life that eventually come out in a long flashback. And I still love most of them. Except maybe Capers. Sometimes he's kind of a douchebag, but other times he's a good man...like most people, then, I suppose.