A large, sweeping literary novel that is clearly ambitious but for for me does not reach the heights it aims for. There are whole sections in this book that are just beautifully done (I loved the entire story of Desdemona and Lefty, and the section with the Obscure Object, and the scenes in the mermaid tank), but others that drag on and on. Some characters are very real and well drawn (Desdemona, again) and others are practically not there at all (Milton and Tessie). Although Cal/Calliope's voice was distinct in both the first and third person narratives, the point in the book where she runs away and begins to live life as a man seemed abrupt and not in character.

I think I would have preferred a more tightly told story of either Desdemona or of Cal, but not both.