The Garden of Evening Mists

I wasn't sure of this book at first - I even gave up on it about 10% in - but for some reason I felt compelled to finish it. I'm glad I did. It's not an easy read, emotionally speaking, but it was worth it.

ehhhhh what do I say about this? Nothing happened for the first two thirds of the book, while it was a pleasant easy read with a few ‘setups' promising a later payoff, and then all of a sudden the author tried to cram 3 more plots into the last third. And the payoffs never happened. I'm not disappointed, it was an enjoyable enough read, inoffensive and with a nice turn of phrase... but what was it really all about? Did I miss something, or was too much was left hanging in the air unsaid?

I get the themes of retribution and making peace and consolation and all that, but... and what?

There's a lot of themes swirling around in the book, like ink in water. But no picture emerges.

Lots of character (mostly unlikeable) with only hints of story. I enjoyed how the book was written - in fact i thought the descriptions were quite beautiful. But the story actually never went anywhere!