I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I cared very much for the two main characters, Jude and Willem, and cried (multiple times) at the end. Usually if a book makes me cry it automatically gets 5 stars, but problems with the book's structure and plot kept me from truly loving this one. 
 The book's description calls it a "hymn to brotherly love" but really it's a romance between Jude and Willem. I loved how close they are, even before their friendship becomes romantic, and how committed Willem is to Jude, even though Jude is extremely damaged and sometimes hard to deal with. 
 It's the kind of book where you're always waiting for the other shoe to drop. And it always does. Hence the tears. But it also felt a bit manipulative -- every turn of the plot is designed to inflict more misery on the main characters. It's a soap opera to the extreme with one bad thing happening after another to the point where it seems beyond credible that so many terrible things could happen to one person. 
 As for structural issues, there are a few chapters at the beginning from the POVs of Jude and Willem's best friends that are unnecessary (and at 700+ pages that's a problem). And the periodic switch to 1st-person from yet another POV was initially confusing and strange. 
 But, I really did get invested in this book, and would recommend it to anyone in the mood for a tragic gay romance.