Grim book about a grim bunch of people, except the whole thing is supposed to be a comedy, and does have some funny moments. I read a review in the NYT, but methinks I didn't read it all the way through, since what I ended up with was not what I was expecting. I think I stopped reading so as not to ruin the story for myself.

Idiopathy is funny, in parts. Unfortunately, it has entirely too much going on in terms of "funny bits"--as if a bunch of SNL skits were going all at once. Since the characters are icky, I got to the end and said, "Why, oh why, did I read this?" At least I was able to get through the whole thing pretty quickly.

Finally, I'm sure Byers is trying to make a larger point with the whole cow thing as a parallel to the lives of his main characters, but it's a stretch. I wish at least one (of the characters) had been culled. ( )