I had to finish this for my book club, but it was laborious. I kept thinking that this was Amy Tan's "A Painted House" (Grisham) -- the novel that wouldn't have been published by any other author.... Where were the descriptions, the people we care about, the plot? I felt as though I were trapped on that boring busride for 200 pages, and then forced to watch CNN for the next 100, and the final 100 was her summary of each character's life. What was the purpose??