Not a bad first novel, over all, but I found it hard to get through Hobbs writing style. I was bothered by a lot by little continuity glitches, like Hotmail and Yahoo email accounts not being common in 1996-97, the market rooms were poorly written, or the location, the New York fashion & design industry, did not seem well researched. Hobbs uses these all as throwaway props without being able to give them any real flesh. Especially the City; New York becomes a stage but Hobbs doesn't seem to know it well enough to give much life. Perhaps a good editor could have helped by cutting some of these embarrassments. But since they're all there, it distracted me from the story and the elements that do work. For me, this is the kind of sloppiness that characterizes Generation Why. This is a group that expects everything right now, that takes the easy way, that thinks a first draft is all it takes.

And if you judge me tonight
Judge me by the songs I write
That's who I am to you

- Dan Bern "Black Tornado"