Long Division, by Kiese Laymon

This was an extremely unusual book.

What I liked about it: a seemingly authentic look through the eyes of a young African American living in Mississippi in contemporary times, and its skilled portrayal of the lives of young people in general. Laymon rivals Stephen King in this achievement, and coming from me that is high praise.

At first, the switching back and forth between the book and the book-within-the-book (and possibly a book-within-the-book-within-the-book, but I'm not sure) was confusing, even annoying. After a while I caught on. Perhaps the fault is mine, but I found the high-handedness of this a bit off-putting.

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of this book  once I got a handle on what was happening. Unfortunately, I found the ending confusing and disappointing.

Maybe I need to read this again some day.