This, along with A Visit From the Goon Squad, is one of those contemporary novels that even I can't believe I haven't read yet. I adore Karen Russell's short stories and initially this dragged along for me because I wanted it to be the same bite-sized narrative I was used to, but now I'm really settling in and loving it. It's always fun to pick apart a universally-beloved novel that is overrated, but this is not one of those times. It is as good as everyone said it was.