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This is the thread for discussion for the classic book of the month. We first read this back in 2014 and you voted to re read it.

Things to consider:

1. Were you hooked immediately by the book or did it take a while to get into?
2. Did you like the plot?
3. Did the characters drive the plot or were they just passengers?
4. Did it come across as a credible story?
5. Did you connect to any of the characters in the story
6. Did you like the ending?
7. Did you have any quote or lines that stood out for you?
8. Would you read any other titles by this author?

Firstly, thanks to the mods for deciding to allow a re-read. I gave the book 3 out of 5 stars because although the story moved quickly with little fantastical elements sprinkled in a lot of it left me confused. Many sentences I re-read 4 or 5 times thinking "What the hell's going on or is it a translation issue?" As with any story, fiction or non, I was really enjoying it until politics came in and ruined everything. It wrapped up well but all in all I wouldn't say I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

I had pretty low expectations going into this based on other people’s comments, however, I found myself enjoying it.

I normally like a plot, well developed characters that I can get invested in, dialog, different names for different characters�
Obviously, it had none of that.

I read it quite slowly, a chapter or two a day over a couple of weeks and that was definitely the right approach. I couldn’t see myself reading it in bigger chunks but I did enjoy my chapter or two a day.

It is confusing having all of the characters sharing a very few, very similar, names but I found I could keep track of who was who without too much thought or family tree checking. I think it may be because we didn’t spend very long with each character and they weren’t very well developed, normally a bad thing, but as we only really saw the main characteristic or activity of each it did make them more distinct.

As a novel to study and analyse I’m sure it’s wonderful with lots of interesting themes and messages. As a novel to read for entertainment, I’m not sure why I enjoyed it. It really doesn’t include anything that I would normally look for in a book but enjoy it I did, although I can’t see me ever rereading it.

At the end of it, my overriding impression is that it’s crazy.