[jackdawdle]

i think people have a hard time liking this book because of its dull subject matter. it is a family chronicle after all. and then there's the manner in which it is written -- long dense paragraphs with dialogue that seem primitive and even oafish.

still i found the book compelling. in fact i found it sad, pathetic and tremendously comic, especially the way each character is doomed by a fatal obsession. they lack introspection, but i found the characters here more compelling than the characters one might find in books praised by reviewers as having rich, complex inner lives etcetera etcetera.