This is a fairly quick read that I found thanks to Obama's summer reading list. Wasn't sure what to expect when going in and didn't do much research, but what I found was a brush with grief and what it means to be an adult. Before you even know much of the setting, you feel the weight of Alfa being unable to perform a mercy killing of his boyhood friend. The storytelling is masterful, only briefly allowing you to stray from that enveloping grief.