it took me a long time to get into this book -- I didn't feel invested in it until Esme shows up nearly halfway into the book.  given the very slow start, I'm really glad I kept going because this is a novel that gradually builds on itself and kept improving as it went on.  granted, there were easily 150 pages that could have been cut with very little consequence to the story.

I was surprised by how deeply moved I felt by the ending and I'm trying to not let that paper over the cracks of some of the shortcomings.