Instruct: Classify a review as either positive or negative.
Query: Premise would have been much more powerful as a short story

Have you ever known anyone who had some interesting stories to tell, but when telling their stories, talked on and on and on without getting to the point? That is what reading this book is like. The idea behind the novel is an interesting one, but the story unfolds at an excruciatingly painful pace. The characters are all unlikable and unsympathetic. The entire story is dreary and colorless, literally. And while I realize that this is a metaphor for the lives the characters lead, it makes for a very unenjoyable reading experience.I will say that the author has a way with words. I just think that a much shorter version of the story of their lives would have made a bigger inpact on the reader.(And for those who have read the book already, are we really supposed to believe that the two old ladies in that old house wield great power and control over the main characters and their companions?)