This book is hard to start, disjointed and confusing. The characters are undeveloped and almost unbelievable. They have an inhuman tendency to love and forgive everyone and everything. It is full of sex, Italian food and discordant imagery. No character is complete, but rather superficial and banal. Claude the parrot is the best part of the story. Did I say story? Was there a plot? The protagonist, which I think is Ulysses, does not have much of a character at all. I was able to keep reading it, for Book Club reasons, otherwise down it would go.