I did not find it a downer. Very much a transcendental novel. My only struggle with it was that stark, often humorless, earnest style——and that mainly because that style has been used, and abused, in so many American “literary” novels of recent decades. Once I saw the style really served a purpose, I entered the story and enjoyed itI've had the Vintage edition on my bookshelf for a few years since I found it in a charity shop. Accounts of how depressing it is have likely contributed to me not having read it yet. I tend to have to be in a particular mood to read "downers".
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