Robert Ashley Ashley itibaren Монте-Сан-Джакомо itibaren Монте-Сан-Джакомо

I still don't know how I feel about this book. I liked it, but I don't know if I buy. It just seems rather pretentious and I can't decide if the author really did all the work to support her conclusion. There are some lazy, unfinished bits strewn about that make me question the point of everything, a lot of which feel like they're just in there to show off the witty turns of phrase and wacky-beautiful characters the author could come up with. Plus, I definitely find almost every single one of those wacky-beautiful characters either wholly without substance -- a bunch of ciphers floating around acting as places to hinge new twists or as excuses to toss out another quotation) or completely unsympathetic. I suppose perhaps I sympathize with Blue, but I also find her rather insufferable, so. Still, very clever, very well-written, and mostly enjoyable if you can get over exactly how very very aware of its own cleverness the entire narrative is and don't expect too much realistic depth of character.