Reading in the acknowledgments that this was a MFA thesis project made the whole thing make more sense. It's a good thesis project. On its own? It's got some great twists and turns and is a pretty fun read, but suffers from copying Gypsy Rose's story too closely. The first hundred pages or so, I found myself bored and rolling my eyes thinking, yes, I know. I've seen the doc and the show and read the article. Get on with the story. Once it DOES get on with it, it's pretty riveting.