Novels about disabled people written by ablefolk tend to be patronising and inspirocrap. This one seems to have avoided the former, which is good, but avoided the second by being, unfortunately, pretty boring. I lasted until Kevin's university days before letting the book fall from my hands forever. Perhaps there is a story there, but this novel appears to be a series of anecdotes, any of which might have made a short story. I also didn't enjoy the writing style - Stewart is not a bad writer, but his style is gaudy, florid, almost tasteless in its exuberance. I suspect that he will get fans who are captivated and devoted by his style and will defend it endlessly, and fair play to them all, but I found it too much for my tastes. The internal worlds ofthe characters are all so flat - neither ignored nor explored, it feels unreliable! So not a clanger, but not a winner either. ( )