I'm sure this book is supposed to be very profound. don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it very much, but it was pretty self indulgent towards the end. Not overly subtle. I don't want to be bashed over the head with literary theory. Great story; it pulled me through 700 something pages within a week, some good characters, but too much with the art and beauty and good and bad and fate etc. Lead the reader to think about it, don't shove it down their throat...