This is an interesting and experimental book. The author wrote the first half of it in her late 20s after a hard breakup, burnout from activist work, wallowing in feelings of guilt about her part in the gentrification of New Orleans, and enraged over the recent Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill. She published the first half, intending to write the second half about a tragedy in her community which cost nine lives- though she didn't personally know any of those who passed away. Five years later the author wrote an alternate second half in which she speaks to her younger self about the depths of her own depression, white guilt, and the fact she doesn't really have the right to finish the book as initially planned. In other hands, this might feel like a cop-out, but I thought it was a compassionate way to honor the creative efforts of one's younger self, while also recognizing the flaws of the work, and the way that the world (and the author) changed over time.