This book slowly envelopes you, sentence by sentence, until there's nothing more you can do than keep turning pages. Yanagihara captures the wonder in discovery, in adventure, in putting ambitious desires into action, but also, unflinchingly, portrays the destruction and pain that often follow in the wake of such events, both environmentally and socially--and, especially, how some people can convince themselves that the pain they inflict is not their fault, and further how, if given the chance, they'd do everything again, no matter the consequences.