This felt like such a drag and just beyond my comprehension. We read about Eli in the 1950s and his relationships with 2 local men (who I kept getting confused between because it felt like there was no differentiation between their personalities until the third act), as well as the field near his and his aunt's home (we read *a lot* about this field). Then, we're suddenly thrust in to what I presume to be is an alternate universe play set in the late 80s where Eli's mother is dying of AIDS, and then return back to the original prose as though that didn't happen.
I just found this whole book deeply confusing and dissatisfying. I wanted to enjoy this - and it did pick up a bit by the end, but if this wasn't an ARC then I absolutely would have DNF'd this. Not for me!

I loved Jon Ransom's previous work. I loved the same lyrical writing in this book. The formatting sadly, drove me mad. I really struggled to read more than a few pages at a time because there's very little formatting when it comes to dialogue. It's even difficult to read which characters are saying what.

I did persist although I got a bit more confused in the middle section which suddenly switched to being a screenplay rather than a novel.

There is a lot of rare and well captured emotion in this novel. Three very different men finding their ways in and out of one another's lives as time marches on. Unfortunately I think the formatting won't work for a lot of folks!

This book is not what I expected it to be. It's described as Historical Fiction about the countryside life of three men during the AIDs epidemic, but I'd say it's pure literary fiction with some background's historical setting. It is quite experimental, especially with the screenplay in the middle of the book. I can't say I enjoyed the writing style, but in my opinion, it's more of a personal preference thing. The writing itself is not bad at all, even sometimes beautiful. However, I hated that this book had so many short sentences. I needed to really concentrate on what was going on in the book due to quite monotone narration. And I failed to become attached to the characters, so I didn't really care about them and their pain.

However, the atmosphere of this book is fabulous. It's cold, emotional, lonely, windy and quiet. It reminded me a little bit of the good old Brokeback Mountain but set in the English countryside with younger characters. I am sure some people will find it fascinating and could understand the struggles of the main character better than me.