This book turned out to be a lovely surprise. After a slow start it bloomed into a gentle and understated family saga limited to only two generations really. The language is appealing with a couple of phrase that make you pause to savour them. The structure is unusual; a series of disjointed chapters that work a little like short stories along a deconstructed timeline. In the first half or so, each story presents the point of view of a different member of the family at a different point in the 20th century. Later the focus becomes more acute but remain kaleidoscopic. This is book about the stories people tell themselves about each other and the deleterious effect of terminal diseases or the imminence of death but it isn't dark or depressing in any way. In fact Scissors, Paper, Rock (I'm not sure about the title) is imbued with a subtle optimism, I think.