I just started this a couple of days ago and am now a little past half way through. So just a couple of early comments based on that so far incomplete read. I had not read any of Patchett's work prior to this book.
I am finding it an interesting book (I hesitate to say
interesting story as it seems to me there is little story so far) but at around the half way point am finding it dragging a bit as the narration plods on at the same key. That due to it seeming to me to be very flat, there having been no rising action leading to the expectation of any sort of climax or significant change in circumstance any time soon.
The level of action is very low (even the entry of the kidnappers raises hardly a stir in the narrative; furthermore their method of entry into a house through air-conditioning ducting strikes me as being physically very unlikely) and the narration seems to me held up by, in the main, the detail of the internal feelings of and the relationships between the characters as time moves on. I think that even if I had not known who the author was, I could have picked the style as likely being that of a female writer.
That said, I am enjoying the read but am left wondering if it will ever get anywhere other than narrating the increasingly boring days as those pass by. Maybe there is a big surprise that after a couple of hundred plus pages will finally be the reward to the reader (if so, don't tell
)?