Rolling into psychosis

An absolutely brutal book. Shocking, beautifully written, sordid, vile... I am unsure how to describe what I just read. The novel follows a photographer searching for his identity (redemption?) in his family's past which is intertwined with Europe's violent history, all the while questioning humanity and religion and spiraling into psychosis. It's such a richly complex narrative weaving between bleek "reality" and myth, leaving you reeling and breathless at the end. At times it was absolutely disgusting and so depraved that I doubted reading further. I left it at one point to read something more uplifting. Yet, it's like an Hieronymus Bosch painting: offering deep insight into humanity's dark side and deepest fears.