Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: A train wreck in slow motion does not make for good reading

From early on in this book, you know that something terrible is bound to happen. But in the beginning you hold out hope that at least one of the main characters will grow on you and show some signs of being something other than a complete self-absorbed and amazingly weak fool. But no, it is not to be. By the end, you feel deep sympathy for a couple of innocent bystanders but not the two main protagonists. How this train wreck in slow motion of a book ever got nominated for a National Book Award is beyond me. If you want good tragedies, try Tolstoy. In the hands a master like that , this story could have been a winner because it does have the makings of good tragedy. However, in the hands of Dubus, it comes off as more like darkness for the sake of darkness instead of darkness for what it tells us about the souls of humankind. Okay, Dubus, you've mastered bleak...now get over it!