A challenging novel about the wars that have wracked Europe

It will take me a while to understand the novel I started to read yesterday, Zone, by the French author Mathias Enard (2015), as it's a novel in the Joyce tradition - think of Molly Bloom's soliloquy at novel length - and draws heavily on European military history, about which I know shamefully little. The novel is entirely (500 pp) narrated by a man en route from Milan to Rome via train, carrying a suitcase full of important documents; we understand that this narrator is a secret agent of some sort and that he has a long history of involvement with various military campaigns, notably serving as a soldier in the Croatian army in the Serbo-Croation wars of the 90s and having some involvement with military intelligence regarding the several Palestinian uprisings and the war in Lebanon. Over the course of the first 60 pp or so he (we don't know his name yet; he's traveling under an alias) reflects on some of these military experiences and on his (failed) marriage and on some of his travels, particularly to historical military sights (Troy, Gallipoli) in Turkey. Each chapter of his narration consists of a single sentence; that's not as daunting as it may sound, as his narrative flows easily and is rich with observation and detail; one could punctuate the novel for Enard, but why would you? The use of a single sentence, if done well, moves the narrative along briskly and more accurately reflects the sense of a mind at work (rather than an author at work) - an Irish novel I read earlier this year also used this technique effectively. We do get some chapters - or at least one chapter - which purports to be a short story the narrator is reading on his train journey. At this early stage in the reading I'm enjoying the richness of the narrative but am hoping some of the scenes and moments and characters that are so far just sketches will develop more fully and will leave me w/ a stronger impression as to the personality, life story, and mission of the narrator and to a greater understanding of the many wars and conflicts that have wracked our world but that - like most Americans - I have managed to ignore or to forget.