Ed Kennedy is a loser. He's doing nothing with his life--he drives a cab due to lack of other prospects, and the highlight of his week is playing cards with his fellow loser friends. But then, he receives a card in the mail bearing a few addresses. Obviously, he's meant to visit them. 
 I understand what this book was meant to do: Ed has nothing going for him, and these cards introduce him to people who need something he can provide. Anyone can help these people. They're not overly difficult tasks (well, most of them). But Ed was chosen, and he's bored enough with everything to follow through. 
 It's an okay premise. I don't love it, but I also think it's important. The "meaning" of the story is crammed into the last chapter, and it makes you feel something. Something about your own importance. But it took a really long time to get there. Maybe it's because I lack empathy--I didn't feel much for Ed, his loser friends, or the people he was called to help--but I wasn't sold on the exposition. The introduction to the book was great, and the conclusion was all right, but the middle didn't give me the warm fuzzies I think I was supposed to feel.