This novel took me quite some time to read. I think I read the first few pages about three or four times; I should have known when the bookseller said to me, "Great book, but, it's bigger that it seems." The slim book came with many surprises - complicated characters, lesbian love triangles, a cross-dressing (but not unsympathetic) doctor, and this was all published in the 1920s. The writing is dense, packed, and missing a sentence could mean missing a whole chapter's meaning. At times I felt I had to steel myself to continue on, but I did, and I'm glad I did so though it feels like reading a fever dream sometimes. It's beautiful in a dark, lyrical way -- love, pain, brutal truth, human nature in all it's prettiness and ugliness -- it's all there. Recommend if you enjoy a worthwhile challenge.