I cannot really find anything concrete to explain my "meh" reaction to this book, but I had to struggle to finish it. Plot and characters were adequately accomplished, so perhaps it was the period setting , but it just didn't provoke a positive response. The more so in light of how gripping Lydia Millet's Dinosaurs was for me.

Dinosaurs? Maybe we all are, just waiting for our next evolutionary stage, as the protagonist, Gil, is.

This is an outstanding book and a shortish read that goes down so smoothly that you will easily finish it in one day. These unlikely characters have found themselves in unavoidable proximity (one family lives in a literal "glass house" overlooked by the castle-style house of another) and their lives will coincide, but not in the ways you might expect. Millet is a beautiful writer, with a calm and expansive style and ties up some loose ends of the story, but not all so that the reader will find it pleasing to contemplate what may happen to these characters down the road.

I adored this book and plan to read Ms Millet's other books as soon as possible. By the way, the information gleaned about birds (the true descendants of the dinosaurs) is never obtrusive and truly interesting, as are the descriptions of the Arizona landscape.

I truly wanted to like this book more than I did because I know the author has a legion of fans. However, I found the stories, while beautifully and precisely written, were like a beautiful but staid piece of music: you know you are supposed to like it, but you feel instead a sense of admiration rather than pure enjoyment. Ms Barrett's language skills are formidable, evoking an 18th century drawing room filled with well-educated but rather dry guests. The stories are a very, very dry sherry and will please those for whom a dry sherry is a welcome evening's companion.