i'm a reader of books. i'm not one who skims sections or flits over paragraphs and pages. so to read an author who sprinkles another language, a language i do not know, into a story as freely as one may use prepositions, is unsettling, at best. this point acknowledged, i can't recall the last time a book evoked this level of excitement from me. the broad swath of lives and generations and cultures this author threw against the wall makes you look, makes you stare. even though some is horrific and tragic, you can't break your gaze. a very nice bit of contemporary literature.