Going into the last 20 pages I thought I was going to rate this a 3.5, because although it's taken some thought and re-reading, I was enjoying the story. However, I do not understand this ending. I just cannot figure out what happened here, what was going on, and why it was significant. 

There are some interesting scenes, and I liked the flashback aspect as well. The older characters don't quite seem their ages though, and I ended up viewing everyone as the same age group even though that was not the case. The interconnection of their stories is probably the best part of the book, but it comes together in an unsatisfying way since I just cannot understand the end. 

Could have used more mongoose scenes.