While Nervous Condition was haunting masterpiece, this unfortunately fell a bit flat of my expectations. The plot for the first three quarters of the book is minuscule, the cast much smaller, and the exciting backdrop of the anti-colonial struggle is not given enough space. Obviously, the writing remains incredibly intelligent in its nuanced dissection of the colonial erosion of an individual's health, mental integrity and adolescent formation. Yet, I found myself forcing to pull through the endless depictions of dormitory relationships. However, the last quarter of the book makes up for all that comes before. Tambu's struggles in the city are some of the most beautifully distressing descriptions of the urban attack on the individual's dignity that I've ever read. The episode alone of the hostel easily gives the stuff for an epochal masterpiece worthy of all literary prices.