3.5 stars. I found the story intriguing, the characters rich and well written, and the symbolism beautiful. However, it was very repetitive and long-winded - sometimes I found myself thinking - what was that all about? Did we really need to know what he had to eat for breakfast, lunch AND dinner? I am of the Chekov school of thought, if there is a gun introduced in the story, then the gun should, at some point, be fired ....