content: I only made it to 195 pages. The book is just boring. A lot of sound and fury signifying very little. There are marriages; there are deaths; there are love affairs; there are suicides; there are battles... so a lot does happen. BUT-- I don't care about the characters. If you don't care about the characters, then all their quirky faults seem abstract and dull. Like dusty butterflies in a catalog, their various lives are chronicled. It's a dry description of their adventures and I'm left with a "so what?" Maybe his dryness passes for sophistication, but this book left me cold.