I really, really hated this book. After a few chapters it actually turned into a personal challenge to "beat the book" by finishing the horrid thing. I did finish it and still wonder why I bothered.At one point I actually started counting how many times Ballard used "Heavy Groin," "Scarred Mouth" and "Semen" but I eventually lost count. There were just too many repetitive uses to track without more effort than I was willing to apply.Seriously. It is bad. Just plain bad.Made worse by the fact that I read it after Palahniuk's "Survivor" which was quite excellent. Kind of like following a spoon full of "Chunky Monkey" with a heaping helping of rancid mayonaise.This is the one and only book I have EVER tossed in the garbage when finished.I feel I need to quickly read something good to cleanse myself. Maybe another reading of "Catch-22" would do the trick???