This is one of those books that's got huge ideas and thoughts while still having intimate characters and stories. It's warm and hopeful despite being full to the brim with death, devastation, and sadness. I'm usually quite sensitive to books with deaths in families but something about this one made it okay - I guess it was the context of world-changing events. There are threads throughout that make it a prime candidate for rereading to see what you missed the first time.