I was floored by this book, especially since I had read the author's The Buried Giant years ago and had been underwhelmed. This book is so subtle. It reminded me a lot of Hemingway in that not much appeared to be happening on the surface, but so so much was going on underneath.

As for the "twist", I figured it out about halfway through the book, but it didn't undermine my enjoyment of the work as a whole.