This book is the mother of beating around the bush. It really is. It's not enough that the main characters were sent on a wild goose chase, there's also a back story in every back story. They have to find out things about every person they come across with. Whether or not it's related to the story, you decide. Well, actually, most of it is but that's not the point. Lol. I now understand why Stephen King said on his review of The Shadow of the Wind that "even the subplots have subplots". It's a good thing the prose was beautiful because if it wasn't I'd be lost following the twist and turns of the story. And there's A LOT of twist and turns in this book.
Having said all that, no, I do not hate this book. I actually loved it. In another lifetime I might have found it dragging. But I don't. I think the formula of the book is pretty simple. Good prose, which I already mentioned, AND intrigue. Ripe, juicy, pure, unadulterated series of complications. People love hearing about other people's tragedies. We talk about it and it grows from that. Now this book is a combination of gossip and horror stories and superstitions that was all rolled into an elaborate story. We all love hearing how people died a horrific death in a house or how the last owner of an item suffered a tragic loss and cursed anyone who will own it to suffer the same fate as his. Heck, people even love rumors spreading around about their neighbor having an affair with the other neighbor's wife. A tragic story is a good story as long as it happens to someone else. I loved this book because it reminds me of that old movie Red Violin. It was so tragic but also intriguing you couldn't just let go.
But you know the best part of this is? It actually has a happy ending. Err, that was a spoiler right there. :p
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