My Review 
 It's always satisfying to read about a place and a time you knew next to nothing about. 
 In a lot of ways, I'm glad that the big elements of the story got "spoiled" for me early on. It helped to take the edge off of the sadness of it all, and allowed me to focus more on the quiet, deceptively simple words that were used to tell the story. 
 Favorite Quotes 
 She would not place her memory on things that strangers could barge in and take away. 
 I hope you went well. [As a greeting for someone who is returning from a trip.] 
 There are some things that are so unforgivable that they make other things easily forgivable. 
 Olanna...stood there for a while, feeling as if she had swallowed a sparkling sliver of light. 
 ...one he had come to care for because of what she said and did, and not what he imagined she would say and do. 
 She wanted to ask him why they were all strangers who shared the same last name. 
 This was love: a string of coincidences that gathered significance and became miracles. 
 You can't write a script in your head and then force yourself to follow it.