The Country of Ice Cream Star

I'm not sure what to say about this book. It took me two months to read it. I think I wanted another The Stand or Swan Song, and this one leans more toward The Historian or The Passage (a great deal of reading with very little pay off). I don't know who I would recommend this title to, most of my friends would be put off by the lack of answers. I think there is too much going on and not much of it worked for me. In a way, Ice Cream is a Cinderella, in a way, it's Lord of the Flies. In a way it's a Game of Thrones political opus. In reality, its a tough read- not only does the reader has to learn a vernacular that is strange, they then have to deal with characters who seem sincere but whom end up having agendas (some of them, quite unbelievable). I guess I can revel in the fact that Ice Cream is one of the stongest female characters I have ever read- even if her motivations are pretty selfish.
I hated the ending. If the Russians have recording equipment, why on Earth do they need to bring Ice Cream to Europe? In fact, the whole thing bogged down for me as soon as they got to the Marias. I found myself putting the book down and not wanting to pick it up again. I was just too far gone to quit. Like Crow, I also couldn't stand that practically every male in the book was in love with Ice Cream. She gets respect everywhere she goes, without really earning it. Pasha? What to say about Pasha? I still have not decided if his story was true or the Russian general's tale was more accurate. And how is the cure delivered to all of the Nighted States when Mamadou has a few vials from the Russians and is on his way to New York (where the Marias will most likely kill him for it and take the cure themselves?) Makes no sense. No gratty.