This is the best novel I have read in 2 or 3 years.  It is everything that fiction should be -- beautifully written, engaging, well-plotted and structured.  It has several layers of meanings -- historical, family,  philosophical and more -- and blends them all skillfully and interestingly.  It makes the American grad student/writers' workshop "my parents were  mean to me and then my professors were mean to me" trivia look  childish and silly by comparison, as they are.