There is no need to be rude. I have read hundreds of books, I've read most of the classics and it's totally fine to have a different opinion on a book and want to discuss it to understand why others like something. If you don't like something, why not just scroll past instead of being mean.

I agree, I liked the idea that connection to the collective and ancient wisdom etc left our world and went to this world, but to me it just wasn't really explored. Why don't new statues appear? Why not have statues to link to things over time, so early rooms could be ancient beliefs and then greek legends and Roman etc. and if the energy is leaving our world then maybe fewer and fewer statues in the later rooms. Near the end it seemed she wanted to link the real world with these statues, like the old man he saw a statue of before, but it just felt unexplored or explained. It just felt too abstract. Maybe because there were so many statues and there was no real theme or connection, some are fictional things based on legends, some are just people and animals, some reference stories but it just all got a bit muddled for me.

I can't figure out if it was supposed to explore the loss of your mind, and that the place isn't actually 'real' but that doesn't really make any sense in the story. And if so, why does everyone feel happy and content and want to keep going back there? Because forgetting and loosing your mind is better/safer than the 'real world'?

I looked up reviews of the book, and it seems there are a number of people who think it was just a mental breakdown and not real, and the book also implies this, I also don't think this was the case but if it was, was supposed to be a metaphor for dementia? As it did feel a little like it was trying to explore that idea with him saying there is another consciousness inside of him who is asleep and that he isn't the person he looks like but a new different person, but they are part of him and he looks after them, but just accept that he can't remember anything and is a new person.

But there were so many statues, I think I really struggled, as they must have mentioned or described more than 100 different ones and so they didn't feel very interesting, whereas a smaller number might have been more impactful for me.

It felt long and slow because (to me) it felt like nothing happens in the first half of the book until he finds the wind and a crisp packet.