This brief novel was my book club’s choice for January, and though we all appreciated the emotional arc of the story, we felt like something must have been lost in translation.  The blurbs on the back cover of the paperback copy I interlibrary-loaned are full of glowing descriptions like “unforgettable” and “it will haunt you forever” and “written with crystalline simplicity, intense passion and lively, stirring humanity.”  I kept wondering, “Did they read the same book as me?” The bones of the story are interesting—in […]