I stand by my earlier assertion: Hemingway did it first, Hemingway did it better, and Hemingway did it in 96 pages. 
 The last third of the book, I actually enjoyed. But not enough to make it worth the first 2/3. The ending is... not a surprise, to me, except insofar as it's left open-ended. I'll probably remember this book for some time, but that's not to say I enjoyed it. This one lands in my "it's okay" pile, and my copy will probably return to the used bookstore from whence it came.