This was a re-read for me, and it's one of those books I'd like an amnesia pill for so that I could read it without knowing the premise (although that becomes obvious fairly early on) and what happens. A very conversational style, character-driven and meanders along with flashbacks and reports of conversations that draw you into the story. The story itself isn't fast, and the ending, when it comes, seems inevitable. My late mother described this book as "shattering", and she wasn't wrong. The characters' unquestioning acceptance of their fate was perhaps the most unnerving thing about it. What do we take for granted as "just the way things are"?