Why do I sometimes lose interest in a book partway through? Because I abandoned this novel at about page 150. It may be worthwhile to examine my lack of motivation to finish reading it.
The beginning was great, maybe too great. I had difficulty deciding which of the two characters, the fallen nun or the farmer, was the protagonist. They were both well written and engaging. I was fascinated. Then the random act of violence occurred - a bank robbery, in which the fallen nun was taken hostage. She gets shot in the head. I think she is dead - I have lost a protagonist. Then the slow-speed chase, which was totally engrossing, happens. The farmer chases the murderer. The farmer is murdered. I have lost both protagonists, but wait - the fallen nun is not dead, just forever altered by the damage of the bullet.
At this point I have been totally jerked around by the story and start to lose interest. Did it climax too soon? Did I lose trust in the author? Was it too difficult to identify which of the characters was the protagonist?
Then the fallen nun takes on the identity of a dead priest. Maybe I am being too literal, but why, over the next eighty or ninety years, didn't someone notice? Doesn't the church hierarchy check up on their priests?
I also got lost in the complex family stories of the native americans. Funny? Yes. Enough to pull me forward? No.
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