Perhaps I delayed my review of this novel because it hasn't left my mind in the weeks since I completed it. It took only three days to read; I looked forward to every minute I could spare to continue the story. I've been recommending it left and right, but always became confounded when I tried to summarize what the book is about. Because I didn't want to give the wrong impression, to hang the subject of this novel on words like "post-apocalytpic" or "dystopian" because they connote scenes that aren't in this book. This book is about people, art, and hope. I'll just thrust it at you and say: read it.