diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d796148..1973540 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@ Parsing a [420mb wikipedia parquet file](https://huggingface.co/datasets/wikimed
  - https://github.com/apache/thrift
  - https://github.com/apache/arrow
  - https://github.com/dask/fastparquet
+ - https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb
  - https://github.com/google/snappy
  - https://github.com/ironSource/parquetjs
  - https://github.com/zhipeng-jia/snappyjs
diff --git a/src/assemble.js b/src/assemble.js
index 0e15bf0..fbe5a98 100644
--- a/src/assemble.js
+++ b/src/assemble.js
@@ -2,11 +2,10 @@
  * Dremel-assembly of arrays of values into lists
  *
  * Reconstructs a complex nested structure from flat arrays of definition and repetition levels,
- * according to Dremel encoding. This simplified version focuses on arrays and scalar values,
- * with optional support for null values.
+ * according to Dremel encoding.
  *
- * @param {number[] | undefined} definitionLevels definition levels, max 3
- * @param {number[]} repetitionLevels repetition levels, max 1
+ * @param {number[] | undefined} definitionLevels definition levels
+ * @param {number[]} repetitionLevels repetition levels
  * @param {ArrayLike<any>} values values to process
  * @param {boolean} isNullable can entries be null?
  * @param {number} maxDefinitionLevel definition level that corresponds to non-null
@@ -36,36 +35,27 @@ export function assembleObjects(
       // Construct new lists up to max repetition level
       // @ts-expect-error won't be empty
       currentContainer = containerStack.at(-1)
-      if (def) {
-        for (let j = rep; j < maxRepetitionLevel; j++) {
-          /** @type {any[]} */
-          const newList = []
-          currentContainer.push(newList)
-          currentContainer = newList
-          containerStack.push(newList)
-        }
-      }
+    }
+
+    // Add lists up to definition level
+    const targetDepth = isNullable ? (def + 1) / 2 : maxRepetitionLevel + 1
+    for (let j = containerStack.length; j < targetDepth; j++) {
+      /** @type {any[]} */
+      const newList = []
+      currentContainer.push(newList)
+      currentContainer = newList
+      containerStack.push(newList)
     }
 
     // Add value or null based on definition level
     if (def === maxDefinitionLevel) {
-      if (!currentContainer) {
-        throw new Error('parquet assembleObjects: currentContainer is undefined')
-      }
       currentContainer.push(values[valueIndex++])
     } else if (isNullable) {
-      if (def) {
-        // TODO: Go up maxDefinitionLevel - def - 1 levels to add null
-        for (let j = def; j < maxDefinitionLevel - 1; j++) {
-          containerStack.pop()
-          // @ts-expect-error won't be empty
-          currentContainer = containerStack.at(-1)
-        }
-        if (def > 1) {
-          currentContainer.push(undefined)
-        }
-      } else {
+      // TODO: actually depends on level required or not
+      if (def % 2 === 0) {
         currentContainer.push(undefined)
+      } else {
+        currentContainer.push([])
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/read.js b/src/read.js
index 856a5e3..debde57 100644
--- a/src/read.js
+++ b/src/read.js
@@ -182,10 +182,14 @@ async function readRowGroup(options, rowGroup, groupStart) {
                 const obj = {}
                 for (let j = 0; j < keys[i].length; j++) {
                   if (Array.isArray(keys[i][j])) {
-                    // TODO: key should not be an array, this is an assemble bug
+                    // TODO: key should not be an array, this is an assemble bug?
                     keys[i][j] = keys[i][j][0]
                     values[i][j] = values[i][j][0]
                   }
+                  if (keys[i][j] instanceof Uint8Array) {
+                    // decode utf-8 keys
+                    keys[i][j] = new TextDecoder().decode(keys[i][j])
+                  }
                   if (!keys[i][j]) continue
                   obj[keys[i][j]] = values[i][j] === undefined ? null : values[i][j]
                 }
diff --git a/test/assemble.test.js b/test/assemble.test.js
index ae2a8eb..a817157 100644
--- a/test/assemble.test.js
+++ b/test/assemble.test.js
@@ -83,14 +83,14 @@ describe('assembleObjects', () => {
     expect(result).toEqual([[[]]])
   })
 
-  it('should handle isNull', () => {
+  it('should handle nonnullable lists', () => {
     // from nonnullable.impala.parquet
     const result = assembleObjects([2], [0], [-1], false, 2, 2)
     expect(result).toEqual([[[-1]]])
   })
 
   it('should handle nullable int_array', () => {
-    // from nullable.impala.parquet
+    // from nullable.impala.parquet int_array
     //                       [1  2  3][N  1  2  N  3  N][ ] N  N
     const definitionLevels = [3, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 2, 1, 0, 0]
     const repetitionLevels = [0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]
@@ -104,4 +104,22 @@ describe('assembleObjects', () => {
       undefined,
     ])
   })
+
+  it('should handle nullable int_array_Array', () => {
+    // from nullable.impala.parquet int_array_Array
+    //                       [1  2][3  4][[N 1  2  N][3  N  4] [] N][N] [] N  N [N  5  6]
+    const definitionLevels = [5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 4, 5, 4, 5, 3, 2, 2, 1, 0, 0, 2, 5, 5]
+    const repetitionLevels = [0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2]
+    const values = [1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
+    const result = assembleObjects(definitionLevels, repetitionLevels, values, true, 5, 2)
+    expect(result).toEqual([
+      [[1, 2], [3, 4]],
+      [[undefined, 1, 2, undefined], [3, undefined, 4], [], undefined],
+      [undefined],
+      [],
+      undefined,
+      undefined,
+      [undefined, [5, 6]],
+    ])
+  })
 })