I really loved this book so much.

Imagine sitting at an airport in the departure lounge, maybe your flight is delayed so you are watching the people come and go and idly thinking of the stories you might imagine for their lives. And then each person moves on and is gone into the crowd. Others take their place briefly moving into your view. This is how this book is. I would love to actually sit in a departure lounge and read it. The stories are almost flash fiction, which suits the theme of the book so well. But it isn’t ‘flash and gone’ reading. I will keep this book by me and reread quite a bit I think.

The stories (described in the summary here on Goodreads) are short but so expertly written. Each one contains so much of humanity. I see some people have said they needed to know more about each person in the stories, that it is too short, but really everything is said in just a few pages. It is like magic how so much can be conveyed in so few words by Szalay. In some ways ( in every way) more of the story would spoil the wonderful ness of the book.

Despite its brevity, some big themes linger...particularly a deep rooted racism. It is handled very well in that it is sometimes loud, sometimes subtle but never preaching...that is not the right word...I mean it is all the more shocking for the way so much is shown in maybe just a short sentence. Those short sentences are loaded and pointing right out at the reader.
Lastly I would say too that It isn’t a happy book, but it is a wonderful book