My book club chose this book and no one was able to finish it. We all agreed that the idea for the story, great, the descriptions of the era, EXCELLENT and even at times facinating. Rich in a detail that gives you a great understanding of what it would be like to live in another time. No one can quite put their finger on what was so difficult to get through the book. The one person who was 50 pages from finishing plans to finish it but commented that it was really getting good at the end... For me, a few of the lesser characters were given too much background and I started skimming the book for "good parts." I would sometimes get a feeling of blah...blah...blah...
This is a very well written book. It reads beautifully with none of the stilted prose that is often found when a book is translated from its original language which in this case is German. It's a murder thriller with excellent descriptions of living conditions in 18th century France. The author manages to perfectly create and describe the main loathsome character who seeks to distill and concentrate the world's beauty for himself.