I'm feeling pretty stunned after finishing this book. There were several things I didn't like about it, the biggest of which was how the narrative was very clearly crafted for suspense, irony, etc... Aside from the need to suspend my disbelief for a number of coincidences however, there was a lot about this book that was wonderful. The characters were memorable. The themes of womanhood, generational tension, immigration, secrecy, community violence, and others were deeply explored. And the widow's stories were also pretty good ;).