This has been on my shelf for a while having picked it up at random in a used book store, but I had a feeling it would be good having read the blurb and I was right. It's a snapshot of one day in the protagonists life, where he has to make a major decision, with flashbacks of his life and those of the secondary characters. The secondary characters make this novel, their stories really illustrate why his decision his so difficult, and ultimately it's what the book is about. The plot could be summarised in 2 lines, but the characters need hundreds which you get. If I have a criticism it's that it's too short, the secondary characters which you grow to love dont get a real conclusion and that's the only reason it goes from 5 to 4 stars . The writing style , and the translation in my case, is beautiful, one chapter in I knew I'd be happy sitting with this. I see he has other works translated by the same person which I'll seek out in the future