The novel talks about the suffering of immigrants in a foreign country and their living conditions, their memories and dreams. These are characters who are not disconnected from their past, but at the same time, they expect nothing from their future. What distinguishes Agota Kristof's style is that she has reduced the narrative to the minimum possible, as she makes the events in her narration happen just like that, without any structural or written introductions... They are short sentences, all rushed. It is as if the novelist is trying to strip emotions from life without introductions and tends towards direct writing, which has led critics to consider her writing independent of the narrative text, and isolated from it.