Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First things first - this is obviously not meant to be read on the Kindle. If you do even the tiniest amount of research about what you are going to read, you would know that. However, the 1 star reviews seem to imply that some people randomly buy books knowing absolutely nothing about anything, so it needs to be said. No Kindle. Also, know up front that there are going to be 26 more volumes. So essentially this is a first chapter. There is not going to be much of a clear plot, sometimes it's difficult to know who/what is even talking or what he/she/zhe/it is talking about, and there is certainly nothing in terms of a larger picture painted in this opening salvo. NPR had an article about The Familiar asking if this book will "kill the novel". The article says not quite, but almost. I think this book is worth reading simply because that question is legit - this book (at least to this reader) changes the entire reading experience. The writing is difficult but (for the most part) penetrable if you have patience, and like with all great authors there are times where you just have to accept that you aren't going to know what's going on. Even though it is 800+ pages, it reads much faster thanks to the artistic layout. I read 120 or so books every year - this is by far the most interesting that I've read in the 2000's , at least from a conceptual standpoint. It is more "Only Revolutions" than "House of Leaves" for those familiar with Danielewski's previous works, but is definitely worth the time and effort for the dedicated reader (i.e. don't get it as a Father's Day gift for a guy who reads a Stephen King book once a year - not that there's anything wrong with that!). The