I was expecting much better from this one. The original version (this was translated from Hebrew) has won awards and been highly praised. However, I just did not connect with it at all.

The premise was really good and there were parts of the story that I think gave the structure some excellent bones, but the execution was just not there for me. The writing was choppy and sometimes made absolutely no sense. The word usage was often a bit awkward and sentence structures did not feel right.

The organization of the plot caused me a lot of problems and I think kept me from bonding with any of the characters. Things moved so slowly that I just couldn't connect or be bothered to care. I wanted this to be a lot more than I was given. The outline version would still draw my interest now that I know how the book goes, the writing just didn't flesh the story out in a way that worked for me. I think it had promise, but just did not get there. Once again, maybe if I had been able to read it in the original language my experience would have been different.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *