I started this because Francine Prose gave it as an example of a book that, though grownups can no longer be transported by a novel, she was lost-- LOST-- reading, so, as a grownup looking to be in another world. . . Well, it didn't happen. I'm still here and maybe if I read more of it . . ., but these people are all annoying me. And then I have to contend with being the kind of person who is annoyed by victimized orphans, and who wants to be that guy?