brilliantly written, some of the best prose i've read in years. the opening scene, with dolores in the wheelbarrow, is such incredibly beautiful and provocative imagery. also, the prose shifts to accommodate the various mental states of characters - the schoolmaster is almost always focused on his own disgust towards himself and his involvement with the other survivors; dolores thinks slow, so the prose grows languid and focuses on the here and now, her surroundings; the matriarch and jan have this intensity to their perspective not found elsewhere, focused on the others and their slights towards them, and towards the future

this book is chock-full of themes and motifs and i personally felt that they were all adequately explored! how does one interpret humanity in the post-apocalypse - by mental capability, by physical appearance, by moral standing? how is a human meaningfully different from a stone when there is no more society? 

the aquinas stories were shocking and enjoyable - the one about the girl with the perfect life and her epileptic brother will stick in my head for ages.

will definitely be checking out williams' next publication.