This is a very difficult book to rate. There are things I think it does well.
A standout is the way the boy is written. I don’t believe we’re given a specific age for him, but I found his dialogue very real for a child in that situation.

The main drawback for me is just how slow it is. After DNFing it multiple times over the years I ended up getting the audiobook and listening to it on almost twice the speed in order to not get bored with so little going on.
With that said, once I was getting through it at a better pace, I did begin to enjoy it much more.