So when I started listening, I was like, "What is this wall? Why should I care?" It felt too abstract for me to picture correctly. Then we do see the wall, and learn what it is, and ohhhhh boyyyyy...
I don't know if I like this one all that much. It feels pretty abstract, until you get to the flaying parts, which, while not as gruesome as I thought it would be, made me glad I was listening to in the car with my son. And then it got all mystic and weird. Which I don't mind, usually. I guess what I hoped would happen would be that when the main character decided to take the other man's place, her flaying would be, I don't know, showing that she's *different*. Maybe using the wall to bitch-slap the dictator. But that didn't happen. For her, it was more internal. She was the only one who became changed.
But I'm going to go against popular opinion and say it does end on a hopeful note. I think because now she does know the "truth" (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), she will do something about it, if not among the villagers, with those who'd also been on the wall. It seem that those who had been flayed are now considered unclean or taboo because of the stitches, and they could band together and do something. I could even forsee her going up on the wall again and learning more from the wall.
::imagination taking off::
If you really want to get weird, I mean, really, really, really weird, those who had been flayed can start swapping body parts and minds to learn from each other. It could bring about a whole new way of existence. Course, it could really creep out the villagers as well...
Huh. Guess I liked this more than I thought.