This book is quite unique in my experience. The writing is like nothing I've read before; the author has a different voice from most. And my personal reaction to it is confused and varied. I wasn't impressed in the beginning, because the story seems to drag a bit; but towards the middle and end, I really liked it. It's certainly morbid, but with a weird and beautiful poignancy. I cried several times, but not at the bits where people die, which is strange I guess.

The writing was very well done. Every word carefully selected to show a particular mood and to elicit shock or comfort or anger in the reader. Descriptions of colors, or the use of nouns as verbs were great tools for painting those word pictures. Beautifully and sensitively done! One thing bothered me...I didn't like the headlines and sentences in bold that pop up through the narrative. It was distracting to my reading, and annoyed me.

But somehow, even while I acknowledge the absolute brilliance of the writing, and while I DID cry and enjoy the story.... my overall feeling at the end is...apathetic. I'm just not excited about this book. I don't know why.