This was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it. thanks for letting me have an advance copy. I'm new to this author.

An interesting read. Some very nice writing and observations, but maybe a tad self-indulgent? I think I requested it after seeing a lot of glowing reviews, and maybe because he was connected/compared to another author/novel that I loved. Unfortunately, this didn't quite click for me. It was good enough for me to finish, though, and also want to read something else by the author.

I really enjoyed this book. I read it before Lockdown thankfully, as its certainly not an uplifting read and it that's what you're after I recommend you leave this one for another time. But it is so beautifully written, and certainly deeper than the blurb (basically a love/break up/dissect what went wrong) story suggests. Sensitive, realistic characters (especially Leo). definitely some rough subjects to read about, so like I said, leave this one for when the world is in a better place. But I highly recommend you read it then, because it's a beautiful masterpiece of storytelling that lingered with me long after I finished it.

This book was a bit odd and not quite what I was expecting, but it did hold my interest. I should have read it much earlier!

I am sorry to say that I didn't get a chance to read this title before it expired from my e-reader. :(

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

This was an interesting and unique book. Through the characters, primarily the main character, Leo, the author addresses life, love, loss, and death in various manners, both in terms of personal relationships (Leo and Fiona, Leo and Rachel, Michael and Therese) and in religious and philosophical terms, with discussions of what happens after death -- do our souls live on, do we come back to "life" as another person at some future point, are there infinite recursions of earth such that at some point there will be another iteration that essentially repeats our own experience (same friends, acquaintances, loves, losses, mistakes, triumphs). The author also has Leo, who is a lawyer, work for a firm that handles death row appeals, and uses his efforts to try to get a condemned prisoner (Michael) to assist in saving himself as way to comment on the death penalty and the process of executing a condemned prisoner. However, he also uses Michael, a good 'ole Georgia boy who in prison has read extensively and thought extensively about philosophy and religion as a way for Leo to try to come to grasps with some of the questions that have plagued him since Fiona, his girlfriend, abruptly left him, turning his world upside down. I particularly liked that Michael, who taught himself religion and philosophy in prison (not much else to do besides read), was educating Leo, who had a privileged upbringing and first-class education, about complex topics such as religion and philosophy, including aspects of Judaism, that Leo, who is Jewish (but apparently not particularly observant) was unaware of.

A slight criticism of the book is that the author likes to use unusual words that will not be familiar to many readers, which could be a turn-off to some readers. I did not mind because I like unusual words, but I doubt many readers will be familiar with words like: candent, eremic, or sylvestral.

Not my kind of book. I just could not get into it.

This one sounded really interesting, especially given that I work in corrections, but I found the voice and the writing to be just grating enough that I couldn't connect with the story. I might give it a try in the future, but I make no promised (given the length of my to-read list!).