I'm not sure what took me so long to read this book, I'd been hearing about it for years now. For something I heard so much about, I had no idea what it actually dealt with - I only associated an image of Lena Olin and a bowler hat that I remembered from a preview to a movie I was too young to see at the time (and I still haven't seen it).

I was surprised to find a book contructed through philosophical ideas; the characters and fictional narrative are there mainly as examples, to demonstrate. At the same time, I wanted to know about these characters and discover their fates.

It's almost hard for me to write about this book in retrospect - I have an urge to read it again. I paused many times while reading and became pensive and even introspective. I found myself thinking about the book when I wasn't reading it, about its ideas and how wonderfully written it was. I'm still somewhat in awe of the way its written, and certainly in awe of all that its left me to think about.

I can't write about it any more - I can only say I loved it, and I recommend it.