One of the best narrative voices I've ever read.  Almost nothing happens in the plot, and yet I could not stop reading. It is a book for book lovers, philosophy lovers, music lovers, lovers of all things art, and for anyone who wants to read a story set solely in the character's head. Set against the backdrop of Beirut through the 20th century, the book is about belonging/not belonging, about loneliness, loss, impending death, legacy, family and the-friends-who-are-family. It's about the questions that keep us up at night.  So many quotable lines, but this sums it up:  It has bothered me all my life that I am not like everyone else”; ..... “May I admit that being different from normal people was what I desperately sought?”