Sylvia Dion

Being a native Northwesterner, I found this book to ring of citified ideals. It preaches conservation while the characters are unable to balance their virtues with their selfish actions, including Ben, the ghost that everything centers around. Only one living family member has a job. They all feel entitled to money they didn't earn. The main character, a teenager, has to learn right from wrong through the souls that haunt the place. Nobody takes responsibility for their actions or behaviors. They just feed each other more disfunction and drama. It throws everything possible into the pages. History, ghosts, homosexuality, conservationism, and spiritualism are mixed together as if the author wants the reader to know how educated and worldly he believes himself to be. For all the preaching, philosophizing and ruminating that fill in the blanks of a weak storyline, there is very little to gain from reading this book. They all need to get jobs and deal with life like the rest of us. Nobody owes any of us anything.