Seeing India and Mumbai from the points of view of so many people made it a feel-good sociological study. Who could not fall in love with Asha from the day she was born? These were real people and the writing improved as the book went along. I have a soft heart and I wasn't disappointed. I have never wanted to go to India, but now I am not so sure.

I would love to give this book to a psychiatrist and see what she could make of these sad characters. I love pathetic people as much as the next person, but this book seemed to contain devices designed to shock or confuse. Yes, I had to read it all just to find out what happened to the characters, but I cared most about the almost normal ones. Is that a character flaw in me?

Emotion or rational thought? This book presents an enthralling explanation of the processes that the brain uses to decide what decisions it will make. Full of stories and anecdotes, it kept this reader’s interest throughout. The chapter on psychopaths and why they are so dangerous is chilling. The book is very current and includes information regarding the 2008 presidential election and how emotion and rational thought played out in the selection of candidates. Even the acknowledgments at the end are fun--the book was written because the author couldn't decide which type of Cheerios to buy!

This book appears to have an identity crisis. Perhaps if I had read the first two about the characters it would be more clear. However, it has elements of "male cozy' with broad humor about stereotypical car salesmen and mafia, scary fish in the toilet, etc. combined with very dark violence, Chinese triads, and drug lords. I would prefer better developed characters that I really cared about.