Finished the book still wondering if the author intended me to empathize with the narrator because for large portions of the book, I did. It has a kind of spiral into darkness to it, certainly, and even from the start there were things the narrator did that I didn't support, but it's presented in such a way that I found myself, at times, buying into the narrators self justifications. It's a very interesting book, and it compelled me to search my own motivations and biases as I read it. Kuang has quickly become one of my favorite authors.