Ode to My First Car is a coming of age story written in verse. A series of poems written as odes first to Claire’s car, Lars (who unfortunately meets his demise at the start of the book), and then expanding as we get further along in the story. It bounces around a bit, with bursts of stories interrupted by other thoughts and continuing further along, and is more about Claire exploring her feelings than a deep plot. I really liked all of the characters, but Claire and Lena in particular stood out as favorites. 

I listened to the audiobook, which is harder to distinguish as poem instead of story. I keep going back and forth with myself about liking the more natural conversational reading, and wishing that it had read more like poetry in the narration that made the writing style more obvious. It’s messy, but I enjoyed the mess.