Even though it was a short read, in itself, this book has already mustered enough emotion to traumatize me while I was in its grasp. It was like a crippling handshake between you and a friend you have just met. Over time, you realize that your hands have gone numb because you have already felt too much. You realize that they were not hands after all. You realize that they were vises. After you realize that there is no escape from the horror, you kind of just go with it, hoping it gets better, but it doesn't. Even if it doesn't, you still kind of accept it, because that is just how it is. You expect the pain and the cruelty. And just as you think you have mastered the art of foreseeing and not feeling the pain, you are given relief. 
 Basically, this book was painful to read in the very best sense of the term. It is always hard to read someone's struggles, even if they are fictional. The pain was worth it, though.