Perhaps I was just expecting too much from this book, but it gave me little. I am used to, and actually like, a book that gives me several stories that weave together eventually, but this book did not deliver that. Instead I spent over 300 pages reading about mental issues brought about by disjointed parents providing misguided childhoods that lead to confused and saddened adults. The middle section is nothing but the writings of the Archivists wife as she falls deeper in her mental anguish but it felt out of place. All in all, I was just glad to close the cover on this book and move on to something else.