After having read a fair number of John Irving's earlier novels, I was disappointed with the cardboard characters in this one and the endless elaboration on pointless details. Not once did I get to feel any identification with the main characters. I literally struggled through the 500+ pages of the hardback version.Apart from Toronto, Maine and LA, the book describes scenes in Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Zurich and Mr Irving has gone through great pains to insert local insiders info, rendering the book into something of a tourist guide. The author indulges here in a writer's trick to add interestingness to the novel, which I found irritating.The subject matter is fashionable, and only that, and as thin as the paper is was printed on.I would not recommend this novel.