Not my favourite book by a long shot but definitely up there for a translation. I find that the need to resolve plot lines and tie it all up with a pretty bow might be an English thing. Books from other cultures ( and yes, the francophone world of this book is another culture) seem to prefer hazier, perhaps more realistic and less predictable endings. The book's main characters were all somehow connected and related and their paths connected briefly but no joyous reunion was ever made and the mystery was never revealed; a bit frustrating to my mind which likes proper endings and nothing left hanging.
That being said, I did very much enjoy the process of the read. The descriptions were evocative and unexpectedly whimsical. My favourite character was Joyce: her eccentric fixation on becoming a pirate and the unorthodox ways she goes about it was amusing and surprisingly endearing.
