this book is extremely boring. The characters have no substance, the only character trait that i can relate to the main character, kino, is "he's a man." that's IT. There is so much symbolism and detail, but not enough dialogue to balance it. Only kino and his wife making some dumb choices. It's quite impossible to feel anything for these characters. and the story, i can summarize in ten words- man finds pearl. pearl is bad. man throws pearl away. This book is a waste of time, i advise you not to read it if your time and brain cells are valuable to you.