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Good po-mo fun for kids, I'll give Handler that. Plus, he followed the explored the feminist model for the story climax, rather than the traditional masculine bing-bang-BOOM climax. In other words, the story goes off on tangents and doesn't necessarily end in resolution. A la, Icelander by Dustin Long, I guess.
There are things about these books I love and things about them I find very, very irritating. Not sure if those things would have irritated me at all or more if I were a young person. And there were questions left unanswered, on purpose, that I found frustrating, though there were things one could work out for oneself, as well...and that I liked.
I recommend them in fits and spurts. Attempted to read quite a lot of them in a row and found it maddening.
LOVED the reference to Dante's unrequited love, of course. And Olaf wound up being a more interesting figure than I'd anticipated.
Rereading The Beatrice Letters again after "The End" was somewhat heartbreaking, though. Still, he kept his promise. The story was never going to end a happy one.
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