First, the good news: Ada and Ruby are well-drawn, thoughfully written characters who develop over the course of their story. Unfortunately, the story about Inman doesn't measure up. To begin with, the geography is impossible to follow--a real failure in a book about a journey. Inman meets far too many vicious people to be believed, and the muck and mire are overplayed. While some of this may be realistic, the level of overkill results in a book that is unpleasant, uninteresting, and not particularly worthwhile.