Despite the occasional descriptions of this book as chick lit, and indeed it alternates almost entirely among the points of view of the main women characters with the males providing (mostly) comic relief, I found this story engaging and hilarious, somehow balancing the lighthearted tone against the increasing underlying seriousness. At nearly five hundred pages, I found myself slowing down toward the final stretch thinking, OK, I can see where this is going, let's wrap it up, but the ending was gratifying and still somewhat unexpected.