“Our lives here are inexpressibly trivial and momentous at once, it seems he’s about to wake up and say. Both repetitive and unprecedented. We matter greatly and not at all. To reach some pinnacle of human achievement only to discover that your achievements are next to nothing and that to understand this is the greatest achievement of any life, which itself is nothing, and also much more than everything. Some metal separates us from the void; death is so close. Life is everywhere, everywhere.”

I liked this, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it instead of listened to it as an audiobook. It's less story and more poetry, and the narration took something out of it for me. I found it more difficult to follow than I think I would have on paper. I will give Harvey points for her beautifully lyrical writing, which was absolutely stunning. I just wanted it to be a bit more plot-forward and found myself thinking, "What was the point of that?" at the end. Again, I liked it, but I really didn't understand it. I also don't understand why it won the Booker Prize, but I didn't read any of the other nominations so I can't compare.