Reading through reviews, people seem confused about how to categorize this book, and it distracted them from getting immersed in it. Don’t think about about too hard - just go with it. (The genre is magical realism, if you think you need to look it up. He is one of the first authors of the genre to my knowledge. Think Don Quixote.)

It is incredible. It’s also very well translated, at least from the perspective that the translator captured the lyrical rhythm of the Spanish language. It’s confusing because a lot of the characters have the same name (as is common in some Spanish speaking cultures). I would recommend looking up a genealogy chart of this book, printing it out, and using it as a bookmark for your reference. But don’t sweat it too much - that’s not as important.

The writing did tend to put me to sleep a little bit, partially because of the tempo, but also because it felt very dreamlike. I can honestly say I’ve never read a book like this before and haven’t since.

And if you’re almost done and want to give - like I almost did - DO NOT do that to yourself. I was in tears after reading the final paragraph. Set aside time to read the last chapter altogether. It is well worth it.