I'm not sure i have the words for this book yet. the start is quite slow but it picks up over the course of the middle third. at times the characterisation could feel flat and yet by the end i felt i knew them so intimately that i found myself crying. the things that happen within the book are often brutal but we see them through an almost clinical eye. we don't sit and stare ghoulishly at the terrible things that happen. we are told them and then we move on and the picture builds and builds. 

it's a beautifully written book and i'm glad i read it.