Title: Read this book backwards.
Product review: When long novels have a reputation for telling a good story in a compelling way, I allow the first 100 pages to engage me (Shipping News, Remains of the Day). After 250 labored pages in Soul Mountain and increasing annoyance with the author, I decided to read the last chapter in hopes of finding a finite ending or a clue that would tell me I had missed something of import in the intervening pages. I found neither. However, the novelty of reading a book backwards amused me so I read as far as the famous Chapter 72 (or was it 74?) in which a critic decries the writings as "not a novel at all," and proceeds to describe the book's many shortcomings. Finding myself in complete agreement, I happily closed the cover. Reading all the glowing reviews posted here has not changed my mind.
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