Thanks for posting such a detailed review of this book. I'm about halfway through it right now and am loving it, and I'd been wondering why one or two of my Goodreads friends weren't as enthusiastic about it as I am (as indicated by rating it 3-stars, with no reviews to explain the rating). Your perspective makes a lot of sense; I don't really share it (though I'll admit that a lot of the dramatic tension for me in "Understand," for instance, derives more from my personal history as an SF reader [I was constantly comparing it to Flowers from Alegernon as I read it] than from the story itself: the end result feels plot-driven to me, but understandably might not to other readers [either because they haven't read FfA, or because having read it doesn't positively affect their reading of "Understand"]), but now I'm not so puzzled at other readers' lack of enthusiasm for the book.