An interesting novel, but a bit disjointed and confusing.  Like the book All The Light We Cannot See, there are two parallel stories going on, with each chapter bouncing between two very different worlds. Eventually, we see how the two stories relate to each other.  They don’t merge, but they come close.  There’s a lot of symbolism involving cats and snakes, and some great descriptive writing about the immigrant/refugee experience.  I’m not sure I understood it all, but it managed to suck you in.  Not great, but very unique.  This is the author’s debut novel.  I imagine his future books will only get better.