Tired allegories and byzantine plot structures can only take you so far. Sometimes all of the cruelty, joy, and absurdity of this world is best illustrated through what is essentially a humanitarian telling of a story one would find in the tabloids. "That's not us; that couldn't be me!" you'll plead. Get over yourself -- we're not so different; everything is everything.
I do wish this was longer. This agonizing, slow-burning story could have been even more so had Baker…