I suspect this book is what is known as a "romp." It is wry, funny, ridiculous and yet hits at many truths despite its Alice Through the Looking Glass aspects.
The biggest truth is, of course, the truth about weakness and I will hammer away at this so all bored by it should leave now. See, weak people are destructive people. They want to avoid responsibility and certainly cannot bear to actively hurt anyone but man o man, what havoc they end up being responsible for. In this book, Martin is the weakest of the weak and he manages to burn down a town, send his brother into a life of crime, blind a man, break a few hearts, send a woman to her death. All for wishy washing around.
Yet sins of the fathers are not necessarily borne by the sons. Martin's son Jasper shows some strength of character in spite of himself, even though at one point he is shamed to admit that his one passionate decision is to murder someone. Well, it's that kind of book, it kind of works at a certain pitch.
The book is nicely cynical, too. In one instance the players are admiring a sunset, a vivid and extravagantly coloured spectacle made so by smog -- an instance where man's doing surpasses God's.
Ostensibly this is an amusing tale of family and character. Family. Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em.
Well, in THIS family, maybe you can.......
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