I finished this ten days ago or so, and although I know I really enjoyed it, a lot of it hasn't stuck with me. It was beautifully written, very sad, sometimes funny and at times shocking, but I wish I hadn't known before I read it that much of it was based on Toews' life. I didn't understand how the part about the narrator's aunt also being ill added to the story. I suspected (although I might be wrong) that this happened in real life, and so it stayed in.