The Important Thing with Story

I'm reading a book now, The Buffalo Soldier, by Chris Bohjalian. I picked it up at the library, searching the jacket for clues whether it were an historical novel or modern day. It set in modern day. I'm about half way through it. I wonder if he wrote it for NaNoWriMo.
He uses no quotation marks. The conversation flows with little punctuation. That ups the word count, I'm told for the official counter at NaNoWriMo. I felt distracted by the lack of "proper" writing, at first. And the sad story, of the couple's twin daughters drowning in a flood. They struggle through, with the hope a foster boy will help two years after the twins' death.
Each chapter is told from a different character's point of view. He also includes the retired couple next door, reaching out to the boy after their trip west. They buy the African American boy a cap with a buffalo imprinted on it and a book on the buffalo soldiers, named so by the Native Americans.
I have overcome my prejudice of the writing, becoming involved in the story.  As many modern stories and as life goes, it seems there is no good or bad character, just people caught in complexities. I'm still not sure, I like this style, but I'm learning from it. I'm rooting for the couple and the little boy to not again get lost in the cracks of the system, if the couple don't hold themselves together.
I'm not finished with it, so I'm also withholding judgment. The important thing with story is involvement of the reader. I have found myself wanting to read it, but it isn't one that stays in my head.