in-reading notes: little, big

This is a gorgeous book. It flows and spreads and moves around like a river in my head... and half the time, I have no idea waht's going on. The most ordinary parts of the story are treated like extremely deep mysteries, and the really weird parts-- girls talking to fish and getting answers, mystical happenings that lead to dynasties-- are about as stright-forward as the story gets, but don't make any more sense for thier straightforwardness. I've been reading it in snippets between the chapters of other books. I want to sink into it, to read it until it's done, but after ten or so pages, I feel like I've grown old and senile reading it, like I can't make sense of it anymore, and I'm left with this really fun and nostagic and magical sweetness in my brain, but several chapters in, I still can't tell you what it's about.

I want to love it, but it's frustrating not being able to navigate it. I love it anyway. I just can't read it all at once. I'm hoping it'll make sense at the end, like the way anime does...