There was much to like about this book's premise and some of the characters, but I was left uncomfortable in reading it by the many inconsistencies of both language and characters. For example... The main characters mother is a stripper who dropped out of school to have a baby, yet she always speaks very properly. The main character himself speaks properly (almost adult-like in his syntax in thought and word) for the first 80 pages and then seems to remember he's one step up from a street kid and starts throwing "ain't" into every other sentence for the next big chunk of the story. He claims he's never had a t.v. or gaming console (too poor), but makes myriad pop references to both (which bothered my son more than it did me, I must admit) You're not ever quite sure who is a good guy and who is a bad guy, which isn't always a bad thing and can in fact make for excellent reading... but in this case it really bothered me because you want to care about this kid and want him to make good choices, but those choices are so completely and utterly murky you're left not knowing what to hope for. I did read the book all the way to the end, but was left wishing I'd spent the time reading something better.