This is one of those books where you yell at the characters. "Talk! Tell people before it gets worse!" and then you wince and grimace, tap your feet anxiously as the character proceeds to not listen to your shouted advice (because you are not Bastian and this is not The Neverending Story) and things proceed to go from bad to worse. Then, before you know it, you've finished the book and you can put it down with a contented sigh because the characters finally grew and matured and listened to you after all. :)