Little Children

I'm ambivalent about this book. I wouldn't have read it if I had realized it was by the same author who wrote The Abstinence Teacher. I picked it out of a Little Free Library because I remembered reading a favorable review of it several years ago and didn't make the connection between it and The Abstinence Teacher until I was already into it. Anyway, I can recognize its merit–a pretty solid portrayal of the predicaments people get into because they don't have insight into themselves–but looking back on it now that I've finished it, I'm not glad I read it. The characters don't experience any redemption after they dig themselves into the shit, they just seem to wallow around or dig themselves in deeper. The only people in the book who are able to see themselves clearly are morally bankrupt, so it doesn't feel good to read about them. So, I think the story is well crafted, but I don't like what I got from it. Proceed with caution.