I hovered between three and four stars for most of this book. I think a lot of it could (should?) have been cut to make it stronger and tighter, but the last third really took off for me, after, you know, the unexpected thing happened, and that was when I really cared for Jude. And a week or so after finishing it, I'm still thinking about him. I am concerned though that all the good reviews and the five star rating are to do with the subject matter and not so much the writing.