I'm badly torn between giving this a 3 or 4 star rating. On one hand, the book's got a very interesting concept and the writing flows beautifully, keeping the reader highly engaged. On the other hand, there are many elements of the story that felt underdeveloped to me or overlooked. Details like how Nieve perceived people so different in the different timelines, including the important characters of Max and Carter. A background on Nieve's mom, and why she is the way she is was lacking. I wasn't expecting sci-fi or fantasy level world building. That isn't usually as important with books featuring magical realism as a sub-genre. But this one left me confused on many aspects of the "magical" workings.The story mainly revolves around the idea of small choices we make compounding to make life changing alterations to our reality, and that of others. It took me a while to realise this, as I was hyper-fixated on other things happening in the story for the most part. Things such as Max's dislike of Nieve in the earlier timeline and where that came from. Nevertheless, I did also appreciate the well written scenes about art and it's subjectivity. How Nieve interprets her project task and completes her painting; the entirety of the tedious process and the product she comes up with. I also enjoyed the tradition of the Monroe women working on the lifelong project of handcrafting a blanket, over the course of their entire being.
Not sure if some of my complaints here are my shortcomings in understanding what the author was trying to do and convey, so I'm likely rereading this some months down the line.
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