Weird. I had some very incomplete feelings after finishing, and only then did I peep at other reviews. Guess it's not just me. I hate to admit it, but I feel more and more like giving up my pursuit to hit the same DeLillo high as White Noise and Mao II. And actually, I quite enjoyed The Angel Esmeralda and found the short story format a good fit. My problem here is that I feel like I read a thing and yet did not. I feel like I drifted in and out of a protagonist's mildly depressed wonderings while my mind went elsewhere. I was and aways am compelled by couples-love-transforming-around-death storylines, and yet I barely remember what happened, and unfortunately didn't really care. The thing that got my attention, by far, was his indulgent use of fragmented sentences with no predicate. Sparingly, my guy. Some of your readers may be ELA teachers and go too far and it's like nails on a chalkboard. I am really truly not a grammar snob, but each move and stylistic choice should have intention.