Completed now and all of it (including the "difficult" parts) makes the reading of this book almost mandatory for any serious reader. The language is simply astonishing. Others have summarized the story. I am one of those who thinks the "love story" is...unrealistic, at best. The parental relationship(s) is ...entirely possible but probably a bit overdrawn.
Read this. It is my second "best" book read this year (2008). (First was The Book Thief -- published two years earlier. Oh I cried. And fewer than ten books--ever, in 57 years--have caused that response.) With People of the Book I only gritted my teeth ... a few times and really winced only once.
It is a wonderful book.
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Three-quarters of the way through...and there are some emotionally difficult parts...but it's very worth dealing with them, so far.