I have no excuse for continuing to read this 700+ page book after I knew it was not grabbing me except that I thought maybe the stories would all come together in some way that was super pleasing. Which, they sort of do and sort of do not. Robinson is a great writer and I love his big vocabulary and his world building stuff but I felt like the themes of this award-winning novel remained always just a bit outside of my reach or understanding so I wound up frequently frustrated or confused. Too long and not right for me. I should have not finished it.