grotesque and spellbinding by turns — the descriptions of food were always disgusting, dripping with vivid twisted description, while wounds in the book were always beautifully descriptive things: a bullet through the face was flower petals opening, war wounds were opera curtains, a stomach dissection was a painted fan opening. i loved the absolute array of colors painted on each page with words. sometimes the back and forth of past and present confused me but the story was immersive enough for that not to detract from my reading