It took me a while to get into this story. It’s loaded with descriptions of EVERYTHING. And it describes everything two or more different ways at a time. But I’m in one of the more emotional parts right now–on disc 6 of 20–and the portrayal of the feelings and the touches of description as Theo starts to recover from his grief are working so well. Beautiful. I hope the ending plays out well.
Now I’m at CD 13/20. There are times I really feel like quitting this story, like when Theo is making incredibly stupid decisions. And when the author goes on and on with unnecessary conversations to build character. Other times I am hooked, like when he has to decide what to do when his dad dies. I was shaking my head at the lack of research when she described him riding the bus east from Denver and only then crossing the mountains and the Continental Divide. Geez.