This novel has major feature-length film written all over it. If the screenplay stays true to the novel, it will be a Cannes or Sundance winner for sure.I don't know what compares. It's a romantic tragicomedy of manners. It's an epic love story with dueling political rants. And, it's a scabrous social commentary on the unexpected ways we come to realize that convention has us trapped in a sticky web.The characters are so real. You'll know them and love them, know them and loathe them, or else love them and loathe them at the very same time.And the narrative is so smooth and perfectly paced that you'll wish it would never end, except that all the food makes you so hungry.