I’m well into the novel now and find it strangely compelling even though many of the characters are socially stereotyped and the overt moralising can be a bit annoying. For instance, Chapter 33, The Yearning of a broken heart is, I found, quite moving—even if it is doubtful that individuals at home indulged in religio-philosophic discussions about the nature of suffering. It seems to ring true nonetheless.
I mentioned the LibriVox recording. In fact, there is a much better one by Rachel Atkins. If one downloads the free Kindle edition the Atkins reading is available at a quite low price (€2.99 here). Perhaps the reason I am enjoying the book is owing in large part to her excellent performance.
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