I only read this because it was suggested by my book club (1st rule of book club, you don't talk about book club. 2nd rule of book club, no Thoman Hardy), but I quite liked it. It certainly started out well, but unfortunately instead of the "usual round of the plot and everyone's happy" ending, it chose the "get weirder and weirder and then just stop" ending.
I'm going to send it off to Devon to see what the they make of this there. They'll probably eat it, but its worth a try.