While the history behind the story is interesting the characters feel completely loose. I couldn't connect with a single one of them throughout the three generations narrated. Decades pass and characters die in a single sentence. I just felt completely detached from the book. I honestly wouldn't have finished it if I didn't have to write a paper about imperialism and nationalism as seen through the characters. Which is turning out be quite the challenge considering there is more description of the cars and camera models owned by the characters than what they were like, felt, or thought about the wars.