I read this book probably at the beginning of this year. It didn't take me as long as the Book Thief, but it took a really long time to get through, and it didn't necessarily stick with me like I wanted it to. It was a little too abstract for my tastes. 
 However, I love Margaret Atwood, and I did appreciate the themes in this book. The reason I'm reviewing it now is because it was quite similar to the Myth of You and Me. From the POV of a woman reminiscing about a best friend from her childhood, and delving into the themes of time and how knowing a person changes who you are. The Myth of You and Me was definitely a more accessible story, though. 
 Favorite Quotes: 
 There are several diseases of the memory. Forgetfulness of nouns, for instance, or of numbers. Or there are more complex amnesias. With one, you can lose your entire past; you start afresh, learning how to tie your shoelaces, how to eat with a fork, how to read and sing. You are introduced to your relatives, your oldest friends, as if you've never met them before; you can begin innocent. With another form, you keep the distant past but lose the present. You can't remember what happened five minutes ago. When someone you've known all your life goes out of the room and then comes back in, you greet them as if they've been gone for twenty years; you weep and weep, with joy and relief, as if at a reunion with the dead....I sometimes wonder which of these will afflict me, later; because I know one of them will. 
 For years I wanted to be older, and now I am.