At once a puzzle, mystery, history, memoir, and fantasy. Multiple puzzles in fact. There are actually crossword puzzles built into the format of the book. There is also the out of order chapters to make sense of—working the way memories often do, random and disjointed—which can be read in different orders (up & down). And the central mystery, when you boil down a life or boil down the history of a place—what does it all mean. The author lets you know there is kind of a sliding scale of participation. It’s okay to forgo the crosswords and any attempt to put the story in linear order—it’s okay to just let it wash over you. . It’s not a real memoir and not a real history but that doesn’t matter. The main character is an architect near the end of his days, the book laid out like fragments of plans that show his life. There were times where I was lost or dumfounded but much of the time was sheer fascination moving through a world almost entirely new to me—Serbian history and religion are not my strong suits. History personal and global touched with magical realism is in my wheelhouse. Begs to be re-read which I rarely do (always want that next book). But I have read Sadegh Hedayat's THE BLIND OWL three times to get a handle on that. So maybe….I’ll revisit this Landscape. There were times when I thought two of my favorite authors were mashed up in this book--Vonnegut & Pynchon (who couldn’t be more different). A very good thing. I bought this at a library book sale knowing only that I liked the title and loved the cover. Sometimes there are forces at work who’s machinations have yet to reveal themselves.