This book is far better crafted than it appeared to be halfway through. It deftly handles a difficult topic (avoid spoilers, if you can), and manages startlingly incisive comments on finding meaning in life. I do wish there had been a little less tin foil antics and speechifying from the Acting Principal, and a little richer portrayal of the secondary characters. (This about how the various secondary characters are handled in Infinite Jest, for instance - each is very finely drawn. But in Skippy, they are not at all significant, from Janine to Dennis to Farley to Halley, etc.)