The synopsis from the other reviews are accurate. The feud between the families is really one-sided as the main family keeps getting duped and manipulated by the other - over and over and over again for generations. There are a few laughs and some tiny victories but they are too few and far between. There is a bit of pay-off/resolution finally at the end, but I'm not sure it was worth all the tedium. I feel that the author communicates the characters' emotion well. However, the writing style can be difficult to follow. Sometimes within the same paragraph the setting and focal character changes with no transition. It will jump like this often. The book's voice is in the present, but he speaks almost in 1st person while following the chronology of 4 generations. I enjoyed the bits of cinema history, but again, not really worth the time.