There is just way too much description about everything to get to the story in this book. I struggled every bit of the way to get a third of the book read. When the writing came to a natural breaking point, I just couldn't go on. It is purely the writing style of the author as I had the same problem with his book, "London." My mother gave me this book because it is her favorite and she wanted to share it with me. I feel awful that I didn't enjoy it enough to finish it, but I did try.