The book may seem strange in many ways, but to me it’s a complete reflection of how disturbing and dark real life can be. Life isn’t four neatly drawn panels on a page; it’s gritty, raw, and completely disconnected. Santiago did an excellent job displaying that for us here, taking us to the deep recesses of Omar’s thoughts, thoughts that any person could have at any given time. It’s the darkness itself that provides us with an interesting story where, because without it Omar is simply just another uncommitted individual with normal human tendencies. We read this novel because we want to see Omar spiral (no relation to Uzumaki) into oblivion, we want to see him hit rock bottom, because that’s where the drama is and that is what’s entertaining. If this novel had been neatly drawn like American Born Chinese, there would be a completely different opinion on it. But through Santiago’s dark and disturbing style, he provides us with something so much more, because in all honesty not a whole lot happens in terms of actual story. The fact that Santiago blended these dark images with the subliminal enhances its more realistic approach and kept us in reality when at times it seemed we were drifting further and further away from it. It is my opinion that this book is the closest to reality that we’ve read yet and really causes one to reflect on his or her life. Even that alone says a lot about this novel.