Unlike another reviewer, I think that Simon is fine - perhaps a little bit selfish and solipsistic - but that it's the rest of his family that needs therapy! And I get the impression that in terms of his art,he isn't a slacker but an extremely talented painter. I think that Simon is a great charcter - supposedly based on Minot's brother - Sam, also an artist. It would be interesting to find out how much of Simon is actually based on Sam and how much is from Minot's imagination. One of Minot's sisters - I think that it was Susan said in the Times recently that she felt that the book needed editing. There are some difficult sentences that even when I read them over a number of times - I still couldn't make sense of them. I don't know if she was refering to that or something else. Overall, I think that he is a very talented author. I'm in the midst of currently reading this book and I think that it's definitely worth your time.