Marias had such a unique voice. This novel is half recounting a story and half imagining what might have happened, might have been said. It’s very cerebral and philosophical. It’s not going to appeal to every reader. Especially in an age where long meandering sentences are frowned upon. Marias is definitely a storyTELLER. Reading his novels is a nice change of pace from the contemporary norm .

The only problem I found was that everyone spoke in a similar  dry and analytical manner. But you have to accept that it’s quite a stylised novel, not naturalistic.