NO EASY READ - More Difficult Than Shakespeare!
This book is for adult men who are in love with engineering, railroads, mining, or any other profession that deals with digging in the dirt. Be prepared for pages and pages of how to build a railroad tunnel. This book did not sell itself as a "how-to" book, and i found myself skipping large portions of the book when it launched into the characters' daily employment. On the nook, it is 600+ pages long, but if all of the ridiculous MINUTIAE of building a railroad tunnel were removed, it would probably be about half that length.
Still, removing the railroad building descriptions would not fix things here. The characters speak in rural English dialects that are VERY difficult to understand - even more difficult than reading Shakespeare!
The characters lead difficult lives with much sadness and tragedy. There is no happy ending here. The only redeeming quality is the ingenuity of the protagonists. Watching them lie, manipulate, and work their way up in society is disturbing albeit, at times, entertaining.
