pileofgreybooks: a book ring

This book is a complicated stew that is chock full of puzzles, genealogies, foul play, and dickinsian bleakness. It is the kind of book you struggle to finish-- eagerly counting off the pages to the end (that at times seems oh so far away), but when you do, finally, finish it you just have to mull over what what you read. It is the kind of book you talk about over and over trying to figure out just what it all means.
Now it is not the kind of book I would normally read. I dont like to try and figure out mysteries, I dont do puzzles, and I couldnt give two figs about genealogies and this book, for a large part, is nothing but the above. But hidden between the passages of puzzles and intrigue there are beautiful descriptions of Victorian England, sketches of fascinating characters, and deep intelligent discussions about trust, justice, equity, and altruism. It is the kind of book you could read several times and not totally grasp it(or at least it would take several readings for me). There are few books that really take the time--and this one (at 780 single spaced pages of tightly packed type) REALLY takes the time-- to confuse a story with the finer details, stories, and perceptions, of the characters who inhabit it.