I really loved the beginning and was ready to start sending recommendations to my friends right then. Now I'm glad I didn't. 
 The writing is gorgeous, it's eloquent and powerful. But the slang, dear God, the slang. While it did a good job of evoking a sense of place and people, it just annoyed me so. Freaking. MUCH! 
 Then the characters. Patch was wonderfully likeable, certainly something I can't say about Tucker. I mean, the guy fucked his way through life, spawning children left and right, never caring about them after they were born. I firmly believe that being in a relationship with such people is bad news, no matter how "mellow" they are now. Patch deserves better. 
 Also, the story definitely dragged in places and I found myself skipping some paragraphs here and there (and I didn't miss anything).