I finished this book last night and I am still kind of in shock... Reading it was like being confronted with some harsh truths about things we don't want to think about, the stuff we try not too dwell on because they won't happen to us: ageing, illness, losing people - losing ourselves in the brevity of time. It's beautifully written, with a simple but effective story that drew me in immediately, and I am still thinking about it now, a day or so later. Yes, there are a few shocks in this book, but for me they came not so much from the story, but from seeing so many things I'd thought about in the middle of the night (and then tried to un-think about) before me in print. 
 More like having a coffee with a wise, older friend than reading a novel.