A very difficult read

This is a challenging book to rate to be honest. It was interesting and the story gripped me but I would not say it was enjoyable. I spent a good deal of time Googling things, translating phrases and had to keep a character key for the first 40% or so of the book.

The structure of the narrative is unusual and contains no markers for dialogue, so until you are used to that it is a little confusing.

The book also dealt with many, many challenging issues and moments that were unpleasant to experience with the characters.

Having said that, the book was emotional, the language was beautiful and the relationships and depth of feelings and internal monologues for some characters as well as the structure was enchanting, and I did always want to find out how things ended.