I almost put this book down 50 pages in. I had such a hard time reading it because it was just written a little too vernacular-ly. However, I stuck it out. And I did get a little bit more used to the language, so it got easier. And overall the story wasn't bad. The author did a great job combining different threads and characters and times, but honestly I am not entirely sure how realistic the ending was. She took a few things too far and I don't have a lot of experience in matters like hard drug use, pedophelia, poisoning, death due to neglect, and "kidnapping" but I think that many things cannot happen without some kind of negative reprisal from the law. However, she did keep me reading til the end to see what would happen. Kudos for writing from the point of view of a stroke victim in a pretty convincing way.