This really failed to engage me. The characters were intriguing but the writing style was overly complicated and the plot just wasn't well-crafted.

This is a challenging read, not from a plot point of view, but because of the style of writing which gradually grows more complicated through the book. All for good reason, it illustrates the point it's trying to make, and there's one technique of spelling Edgar's name wrong that has a heart-breaking pay-off.

I tried very hard with this book but just could not get into the plot. The cadence of the narrative felt slightly alien but did help. However I felt little affinity with the characters.

Felicia and Edgar meet in a hospital room in Toronto as both of their mothers are dying. Felicia is a teenager from an unnamed island nation and Edgar is from a rich German family. When her mother dies and Edgar's doesn't Felicia moves into Edgar's house and cares for his mother. They begin a relationship of sorts that ends when Felicia becomes pregnant with their son, Army (short for Armistice). Jump to 14 years later and Felicia and Army rent the basement of a house owned by Oliver and his family. Meanwhile Edgar's actions are beginning to catch up with him and he starts trying to repair his relationship with Felicia and Army.

I found this book a tough read but once it got into sections with Army it came alive for me in a way that the earlier sections lacked. The writing is interesting and engaging and the structure of the book is very clever once you realise what it's up to. I enjoyed the experimentation with different styles and the themes of an unconventional family. Was reminded of White Teeth by Zadie Smith whilst reading.

However, I did feel that this book was overly long in sections, possibly due to its structure. I would have liked to meet the other characters sooner as they held my attention far more than Edgar who was so unpleasant to read.

*Disclaimer* I did not actually finish this book I just couldn't bring myself to. The story was interesting and I wanted to know what happened despite many of the characters being very unlikable but I just couldn't get along with the writing style which is short choppy sections intentionally lacking detail and clarity. Maybe for some this adds to the book but for me it simply wasn't worth the effort it took to read.