The Last Speaker of Skalwegian

I think this is listed as humorous thriller. I think it would be better to think of it as a farce. Most of the men are ridiculous and their actions improbable. The last names of the men often indicate something about their character. The women are capable and intelligent. However since we mostly see through the eyes of men, that isn't recognized or valued. By the end of the book, some men grow and start seeing the women as intelligent, capable, and their equal. I don't think the book is intentionally making statements about gender and assumptions, but it is easy to read it that way.
While Lenny is a linguist and he often wanders off mentally down a linguistic trail, it isn't really about lingusitics much. There are a lot university politics in the book though.
Now having said all of that, I didn't expect to love any of the characters. However by the end of the book, I did love some of the characters and was a little worried about them. But good news, it ends happily.
So I would probably give this book a 3.5 becasue some of the farce elements were so ridiculous as to be distracting and some of the men's attitudes were frustrating. But by the end of the story, I was enjoying it.