And there's no kind of summation or distillation at the end, describing the Israeli character then and now — something that persevering readers deserve and that Segev, more than just about anyone else, is eminently qualified to give.
If the reader perseveres, however, Carter's deftly orchestrated clockwork plot resolves itself satisfactorily, at least for the first couple of Harbor County's darker nation.
Neither the humour nor the poetry would, of course, prevent a paedophile from using this passage as pornography, though it is unlikely that such a reader would persevere with the novel to its sad, downbeat conclusion.
Stothard said readers who persevered would be rewarded.
For all its appeal, readers who persevere are bound to cry, "Hang on".
He added: "There have been some issues with card readers, but persevere..
In the end, however, the book is rewarding for those readers who persevere.
I doubt many readers will persevere to the final page of a novel, unless it's a book in which the lead character squints a lot, in which case you'll have a certain empathy.
A novel or a biography requires a reader to start at the beginning, plough on to the end, persevering through interruptions.
