I really enjoyed it. I love the quirky and the morbid, especially this month, and I liked the way it walked the line between reality and nonsense. See, I can go with a forest filled with bears out for blood as long as there’s also a kid spouting the virtues of internet commerce.

I actually got the feeling this wasn’t even written for kids, from the swearing and the liquor. I had to check the shelving sticker (J). I suppose kids would get it, but maybe miss a few things, or have to look them up. (“Mommy, what’s cointreau?”)

The ending was fine. It did move much faster than the rest of the book, but I feel like it was only there to tie together the loose ends, and if it had been drawn out, I would have gotten bored. Horvath didn’t seem to concerned with plotlines through most of the book, so a quick tie-up at the end was all I needed. I like that the girls stayed there, but had lives. I would have been sad if they both turned out so isolated like Tilly and Penpen.