I got to chapter 18 of this book and I couldn't fathom continuing because the main character is so full of crap. Monsieur Perdu is a heartbroken man of about 50 years of age who has refused to move on with his life for 21 years after his lover left him. She left him a note which contained an explanation as to why she left and this stupid man refused to read it for over two decades. Instead he decided he would remain bitter and miserable about this breakup and never move on with his life. Eventually he has to be pressured into reading the note by a neighbor in his building and finds out that she left him because she had terminal cancer. In other words, she's been dead the whole time he's been moping. He does end up having a new lover, Catherine, but decides to travel to places related to his dead lover for closure. This would have been fine if every time he said something sentimental I wouldn't remember that he decided to be stupid for 21 years. I just couldn't take the main character seriously and I wasn't enjoying the book, so I decided to stop. I rarely don't finish books, so this is a rare occurrence, but my personal enjoyment is more important. I'll probably not pick up any more books by this author.