A terribly disappointing book. 

I picked this up in a bookshop after being enchanted by the blurb, but I feel that it was rather misleading. The majority of this book is just telling of the lives of those that used to live in Alento, all of which were rather dull. I didn’t feel any connection to any of the characters and it all felt a little sloppy. 

The best section by far was the third, which had some fascinating ponderings on the ethics of remembrance and loneliness, but I still struggled with the writing. I think it may be the translation that I disliked, I think a lot of it was quite direct which just didn’t work.  

I think that this could have made a wonderful short story, but was a rather dull and messy novel. But who am I to say.