This was a decent first effort from a new novelist, but there were definitely some missing and weak elements here. I felt that the entire story was a bit disjointed. I could have used some more timeline cues, because it was easy to lose track of how old Karl is supposed to be, especially early in the story. The characters are also a bit flat, especially Karl’s parents. I couldn’t really bring myself to care about any of them. I feel like the story could have benefited from a tighter tie to the jigsaw puzzles Karl loved as a child. There’s a metaphor there that isn’t explored sufficiently, just merely touched on at the beginning and the end. Also, the whole reincarnation storyline doesn’t carry throughout. There are some interesting family secrets here, but the writing and coherency need a little polishing.
