I normally read about history (non-fiction), so I was really excited about a fictitious narrative about events I've already learned about. I flew through the first several chapters (and a few others) and I loved hearing about the personal experience surrounding historical events. Unfortunately, I lost interest as the "years passed" because some of the characters were either annoying or difficult to relate to. I found myself groaning each time one of the characters appeared in the chapter. I'm not interested the sexual experiences of the characters (but that was a very small and inoffensive part of the narrative). I couldn't relate to the grand locations, lifestyles and seemingly unlimited amount of time the family/friends have to spend together. To be fair, I rarely enjoy fiction except for historical fiction and the narrative seemed to become more about the family/friends than their personal experiences in the context of historical events during the "very long, very strange life..."