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Nov 23, 2016JCLChrisK rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This consists of four stories--"quarters," Sedgwick calls them--from four different eras. Each is a compelling, haunting meditation on human nature. Each has horror undertones, confronts suffering and misery. Each is distinct in style, tone, setting, and action. Each involves philosophical musings about the meaning of spirals in the way of Jungian archetypes. I was drawn into and moved by all of them. I would have liked to have been a bit more moved by the connecting framework of the spiral, as I connected with it philosophical but not as emotionally as the characters. Nevertheless, I remain haunted by the imagery and associations. A quietly powerful book.