Title: Exceptional for the wrong reasons.
Product review: Much as I hate to, I have to cast my vote in the negative column. Usually, a book written by a writer as gifted as Jane Smiley would garner an automatic 2 stars just to start. Her way with words is masterful - usually. But this novel is so mind-numbingly slow, and the characters so egocentric and shallow, that it would be difficult to spend 30 minutes in a room with them in person, never mind trying to spend umpteen pages reading about their every physical sensation. It seems none of them have very many intellectual sensations. Seinfeld was the show about nothing, but the characters and conversation were quirky, honest, and funny. This book about nothing has none of those advantages.
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