Good story but based on the description of the book, a little unexpected. It's described as the struggle of three brothers during WWII in Hungary. While I find this to be a deeply personal book for Orringer, I think it was too long (600 pages) and it didn't need to be. Orringer doesn't trust her readers, so everything a character does is explained unnecessarily as if she is making excuses or explanations for the character (when indeed the reader can already understand what's happening and why). The plot was very strong (how could it not be when its about WWII). I thought the character development (especially the story of "Klara", research into the war, architecture, and Hungary itself was excellent, but in the end the book fell short for the simple reason..it was just too long. Some books are meant to be read slowly (Faulkner), to take time reading, but others are just too much for the simple reason of "overkill". Not only that, I found a lot of typos in the book, which aren't the author's fault....but should be corrected nonetheless by the editors and publishers meant to do it. I found some readers reviewing this book as profound to them, and while I don't disagree, I also side with others who felt like the author overdid it and could have done the story justice with more conciseness.
This is a very good story. It's not a page turner but you will care for these characters because of their situation.
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