I know that a lot of people didn't like this book.
And to be honest after reading "The Grapes of Wrath" and "The pearl" to him,I got disappointed too.
However,I kinda liked the book,it wasn't a powrful stories,th end of the stories were very week and it kinda left you with your imagination,but I can't deny that I was excited during reading the book and I don't know why maybe because of the easy way he wrote the book in or maybe because I felt that the stories were so realistic.