Adi

Hard to stay interested initially, but well worth the effort

It took me a few weeks to get through the first third of the book, and just a few days to polish off the rest. A marginal case of applying what I read. I'm already planning on reading it again in a month or so - to go from understanding to absorbing the paths to more grit.

A mix of stories, sometimes touching each other. I enjoyed a few - Milly and the fox faced bear man. Others were ok. I really didn't like the punctuation-less flow of the left story - though I understood the fast, punctuation free flow indicating the uncontrollable flow of thoughts the story indicated.
Overall the book was a mixed bag.

Picked the book up from the library last night. Finished it now. The only breaks were for visitors and sleep. An unputdownable book, specially for anyone who likes Amitava Ghosh's mixing of cultures and timelines, fiction and facts.

This is probably the book that I liked the most in a few years. It made me think, and it taught me to think. It helped me identify flaws in my thoughts and decisions, to categorise them, and then approach them... like an Econ.
It also helped me develop empathy - by helping understand why we sometimes do what we do, when we shouldn't be doing it.
If only it were not so hard to read in the earlier bits, I'd love to give this 6 stars out of 5 🙂

Love the vivid descriptions of expat life in between wars Paris, fishing in the Pyrenees, and the fiesta at Pamplona. Vivid descriptions interspersed with short, snappy dialog, and a tumult of feelings.