I most heartily disagree with all the "official" reviewers and the general public who find this book to be a masterpiece and a potential classic that accurately reflects the angst and dysfunction of modern American social and family life. The book is well written from a …more literary and technical standpoint, except, perhaps, for the author's preoccupation with various forms of sexual obsession and a curious obsession himself with scalp odors. The characters, however, are universally odious. There is not one person portrayed that has any personal nobility or even honesty. Perhaps the author does not know any kind, honorable or non-neurotic people. I cannot believe these characters are meant to represent normal human beings. Perhaps the author meant us to recognize, as Chip does toward the end, that the whole story is (or should be) a farce. If so, I find it fails miserably in being either farcical or illuminating. It is entertaining, in its morbid way, which kept me reading to the bitter end. What a waste of time. (less)