This is... pretty damn strange, to be honest, but it's so original in its strangeness that I can't help but appreciate it for what it is. The fantastic elements and the surreal nature of the story don't really hit high gear until the end, and the truth is I enjoyed the first half of the book much more - the quirky, snarky account of ancient Marian being ditched by her family at the world's most bizarre retirement home - seriously, it's like a run-down playground administered by a cult - is bursting with the most incredible one-liners and hilariously cutting observations. And there's a portrait of a leering, dodgy nun who pretended to be a man long enough to swipe the Holy Grail before giving (literally explosive) birth to a bird-angel thing that some decades later appears in Mexico to forecast the apocalyptic tilting of the planet's axis. Plus, you know, werewolves. And sardines.

It is all very very strange. Honestly the strangeness goes off the rails a bit towards the end for my taste, but mostly I was riveted. I don't really understand what the hell happened, but I was still riveted and now I want to get a copy for myself so in the future, after a particularly pedestrian day, I can bask in the batshit crazy that is this book.