I think this was, technically, a good book and I suspect I may have enjoyed it more if i had been reading rather than listening, but it wasn't really my thing overall. It's very grim and takes itself very seriously, but the premise is interesting and the writing enjoyable, often lovely. I think it would have felt a little more balanced if the protagonist had managed some happier lifetimes instead of being mostly brutalized over and over, but I supposed that would have made carrying on despite the futility of life just seem too easy. I did, however, appreciate the fact that there was quite a lot of cake.