Wow! This book gets better and better as it goes on. Even the turns of phrase become more lyrical and poignant. I will be thinking about this book for a long time. I'm kicking myself for not having read this sooner, considering it has been on my TBR for at least 14-15 years. I'm probably going to end up re-rating this book 5 stars, but I do have some minor nit-picks that mostly come from reading this book 21 years after it was written--and because I'm a nit-picker.