I almost gave this novel four stars, but I think what kept me to three is that I decided that Simon Van Booy's gorgeous prose is better suited to short stories. This is beautiful literary fiction, but the prose is almost overwhelming. That said, I certainly wanted to keep reading, because I cared about the characters and was fascinated by some twists and turns in Van Booy's style. (No spoiler here; you will have to read it for yourself.) I read both of his books of short stories before this and loved them.