The title is wonderful, the first chapter is in keeping, and then there follow chapter upon chapter of fussing and negotiating, diversions into storylessness. It's all very attentively written, and conversations with the elderly Mrs Baker are pretty funny - she can't get an expression right:
"You remember when they tore down Mr Free's front? A little after that. After work but not quiet dinner time, not but that all my times aren't quiet now that I don't work no longer and Mr Baker's gone."
"We can talk while we have our cooco, Mr Barnes. I'll eat my cornflakes too, if you don't observe." She spooned cocoa powder into the cups. "The valiant flee to eat their breakfasts on the lip of the line, as the Bible teaches us. That means that if you're brave you ought to run fast to get your breakfast, if there's just a little while to eat in."While this is enjoyably and expertly rendered, as is the magic, as is the salesmanship, as is the detective work and the prostitution, the jeopardy seems lightweight. The protagonists are hungry and homeless, but they somehow bump along all right; the lowest point is the defeat in the beginning. The story is odd and shapeless, though the high concept and conclusion are typically rich in meaning. It's a book I read for the promise.
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