I have kind of a meh/hate relationship with Joe Meno. As a Chicagoan, I want to love him. I do love Hairstyles of the Damned, but that might be because of sheer cussedness on my part (one of the main characters is named Gretchen and it's about punks growing up). I loathed The Boy Detective Fails, but now I can't remember why. Meno is not a very humanistic writer to me; I sometimes find it hard to identify with his characters, but I'm never sure if that's because they're relatable, but not written as such, or just not relatable, or if they're TOO close to reality and it makes me uncomfortable. This book I liked a lot more; I liked the shifting perspectives and I liked the characters. I was a little weirded out about all the U of C stuff; it just seemed bizarre and unnecessary. It wasn't a super flattering portrait, but lord knows I'm okay with that. Parts of it just felt forced. All in all though, I think this is my favorite thing of his yet that I've read.