Helpful Score: 3
Beyond "quirky", but not quite bizarre. A realistic farce, perhaps? I dunno, but I really enjoyed it. Fascinating structure: alternating present/past chapters, with the past catching up by the end of the story.
Gert is trying to live her life while coming to terms with her past. She realizes that she had buried herself (archeologist humor, wink-wink) in her work as a way of coping with her traumatic childhood. She has obviously suffered from mental illness, as did her mother and twin- a boy genius. A fasinating look at a dysfuntional family trying to cope with mental illness in an age where there was little to do about it. Wild twist at the end that is perfect.