I read this novel in 2003 and still haven't been able to forget it. I was totally engrossed from the get-go. I kept reading, blown away because this was truly the most original novel I had ever come across. It was simply the best book I had ever read. UNTIL about three quarters of the way in. I kept telling myself that there was no way that a writer who had come up with something so unique would choose to head in such a conventional, boring, predictable, disappointing, etc, etc, direction. I kept dreading every word that brought me closer to the last page for fear that my gut was right.I made it to the last page. Flung the book across the room. And vowed never to read anything from the author ever again.