Very much so a bookclub book. Safe, and totally sanded down to a smooth stone. Descriptions of the smell of flowers in their garden... you know how it goes. To write a book this dull set during a violent civil war seems totally perverse.

It seems like the author had a pretty privileged life despite the war, and kudos to him for presenting that honestly. The Cuban teachers are charming, and the scene of them eating the jam was cute.