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For most of the first half the characters are insufferable in their twee superiority. They are SO intelligent and SO sophisticated that life among normals is a burden. I wasn’t convinced of the friendships that develop, they seem too fast and easy. There was little time to develop unspoken understanding that we are told they have. The middle part was most convincing and needed more time spent on it. The abbreviated version left the story flat. I was disappointed with the ending as uncreative and it providing an inadequate resolution for most of the characters. The ending presented is too dramatic to just end where it does without examining the impact it has on the characters continuing arc. Does Paloma revert to her former ways? That we have no hints as to what impact it will have on Kakuro is disappointing. A “three years later” epilogue could have been used to complete the story.

Interesting read living nearby to where the events described took place, though forty years removed in a way that was similar to my experience with Dave Eggers' 'Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius'.
This book is not timeless but the story is. Wheeler's writing rings with the echos of the writers I can imagine he read and enjoyed; Hemingway, Kerouac, Hunter S. Thompson, Vonnegut and Burroughs. Some experience with the lives of blind people seems essential to understanding a lot of what is going on. I saw many glimpses of people I have known in the descriptions and indeed there are archetypes and stereotypes that match easily with my own experience.
Patrick knows that one characteristic doesn't define people but doesn't get past that himself. His "street smarts" and personal competence he uses to take advantage of people's perception of him. Weeds gets this and expresses her contempt for him. We never get to see Patrick change to use his abilities to further his path rather than just opportunistically take advantage of his situation. I hope he did.