Did anyone thing this book would’ve been better as a collection of short stories? The focus was on so many different characters at different points over more than half of a century. It just seemed disjointed, even though the each character had a connection to someone or someplace that was introduced earlier. The structure just made it hard for me to feel invested in the characters or their stories, since we only get isolated vignettes, and not a cohesive narrative.
I started listening to it and couldn’t get into it because of the author’s accent (it wasn’t for me, I had a hard time understanding him) I switch to reading it and couldn’t get into it either, so I put it aside for another time… I liked his other books, but this one didn’t capture me, maybe it had to do with what you mentioned.
I felt like the disjointed nature reinforced the themes of being “lost” or “blown away.” All of the characters have been uprooted in one way or another – by geography or dementia or life choices or other things – and are bouncing around the universe missing pieces of themselves and not sure who they are or how to be whole.