This is a staggeringly good book. In a purposefully fractal narration structure, a life is played out again and again. But don't expect Groundhog's Day! Each iteration is a universe utterly unto itself, and you cannot possibly anticipate all the results. A family, two wars, an era, and an individual are laid out - sometimes a touch graphically and viscerally - along with a provoking thematic idea of how small changes (not limited to the main character!) provoke an infinite variety.