I read this for university. In my opinion, it should get 1 star, but at the same time, it does not deserve it. I just did not connect with the writing at all, which prevented me from connecting with the characters and the story. I also found the story boring at times, which was really unfortunate. At times, I actually found the relationships between the characters in the villa fascinating, but then there were several chapters in a row with mostly flashbacks, and I lost interest again. In the end, I just wanted to finish the book as fast as possible, and I had honestly given up on the book and the story.

If you like the poetic prose, then this is a book for you. It was not my taste at all.

I really struggled to get through this one. I did not care for the style in which the novel is written. It's not a particularly difficult novel, but written the way it is intensifies the amount of attention needed to get through it.

At the end, my take away from this was that we are all warring within ourselves. Within and with the world we find ourselves in. Each of the characters is dealing with internal struggles and external. The book wasn't particularly impactful in my opinion. On to the next one.