The reaction to this one was skewed in both directions. Jill had to read it three times in college, each for a different class, and hated it each time. And wondered why each course couldn't have chosen a different author, or even a different book by the same author. Some loved the richness of the metaphors that filled the narrative. But the characters were, almost literally, one-dimensional - set in their ways early in life and rigid and unchanging thereafter. Some scenes were livid and arresting, while others plodded. Several people felt an echo from The Good Earth, only set in Africa instead of China.