Ah. Indeed. Well, this doesn't remind me all that much of Russian literature--it reminds me very strongly of Les Miserables, actually, which I'm fairly sure was intentional. It's also written by an American, which I suspect is part of the slog-related chaos.

But I quite see your point. How about a nice book about an ADD traveling surfer (http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Waves-Surfers-Obsessive-Wandering/dp/1594851131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265212491&sr=8-1) instead?

Way behind on the reviews.