What a very odd book. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you; far too many books about dreams wallow in mundanity for far too much of the narrative. This book picks up its dreamlike state pretty damn fast, and the weirdness only grows thicker with each page.

Let's see if I can capture how odd this book is. The book is about Vimbai, who is first-generation American of Zimbabwean parents (I think). She moves into a house on the shore. One of her roommates has a pocket universe for hair. They're soon joined by Peb (short for Psychic Energy Baby), who was rescued from the phone lines, a trio of half-fox half-possum creatures, and the ghost of Vimbai's grandmother. And then the house floats off into the ocean, and, when they run low on coffee and beer, Vimbai asks the horseshoe crabs who live under the house to tow them home.

There were a lot of interesting perspectives from Vimbai that made me feel she was a very strong character, and Sedia put a lot of thought into portraying her perspective. There are also a lot of interesting African urban legends told throughout the narrative, and the narrative, itself, is quite interesting. There were times when I thought I was reading an easier-to-follow House of Leaves.

But, while I found the ending satisfying, and the overall read to be a good one, it did seem to stretch the weirdness a little TOO far. The characters seemed to accept things that would've had me babbling to myself for a few hours, and there were some odd leaps of logic. I would recommend this book, though, especially to those who like odd books. I would warn you, though: I had SUCH messed-up dreams while I was reading this book.