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I was on a Donna Tartt kick, so I read this one too. It felt much more sentimental than The Secret History, and it made me cry when Theo shows up on Hobie's doorstep.
I noticed something after reading three or four of Ishiguro's books: they all had very similar shapes. It all heads toward death, and he's so good at making you feel sorry about it.
With Tartt, there's some deep secret at the center of it all, and you already know what it is, but because none of the other characters do, you're glued to the book. It's like there's something kind of illegal — and therefore provocative and alluring — about it.