I am flabbergasted. The first two thirds or so of this was superb - funny, fascinating; the characters weren't particularly easy to engage with, but the circumstances of their lives and the content of thier discussions more than made up for this. Enter the final section, upsettingly described on the cover as 'sparkling', in which all semblance of plot is pissed out the window in favour of religious psychobabble and I lost all will to root for the remaining twats of characters demanding my attention. It really was a chore, and I remain shocked that the book transformed so drastically. Hmph.