I loved how close I started with feel with Theo in this book! The author helped us reader's to develop a deep understanding of Theo and to care a lot for him as the book progresses. As Theo encountered hardship after hardship throughout the book, my care towards him grew and my acceptance and understandingness of his malidaptive behaviors grew as well, which was something I found quite interesting to observe in myself towards a literary character who did as many bad things as he did.

The book lasted so long and and was so slow at times, but it captured the ins and outs and the full complexity of Theo's life, spanning a surprisingly long time frame. I enjoyed the thematic links between Theo and the painting, and I liked how it all ended with Theo teaching us what he had learned since that initial childhood tragedy took place in his life. 

I rank this less than a 5 because while it was great, it didn't quite thrill me enough for me to want to go back and reread it someday. I definitely recommend reading this at least once, however. I read this via the audiobook and I highly recommend any interested read it that way if they're intimidated by the book's length.