I don't know if it was possible for this book to live up to its hype for me, but nevertheless it didn't live up to it's hype. I had such a hard time getting into it that I wound up powering thru on the day it was due for my book club, reading the entire book in 1 four hour sitting. I think the major problem is that I found the characters to be pretty one note and the setting wasn't very appealing to me. I'd say that it manages to redeem itself by the end but only barely.