I thought this was a very original book. I'm a very jaded person, and when I read about a guy who went from being a pimp to a writer, to a husband of a 14 year old girl... It was definitely original. The characters are hollow... but described to be hollow. The reader decides what to think of them. The main character, the man, meets several interesting people. This is set in the future, when the world is dying, and there is a race to discover a way to other planets before it disolves in a ball of fire. In the world that is dying, the characters struggle not to give up themselves, like the planet. Very good for originality... I didn't even get it until the second time i read it.