This was an excellent coming of age / finding yourself young adult novel that tackled some complex themes such as identity, gender exploration, finding your passions, difficult college transitions for high achieving students, religion, and so much more. Zoe is a college freshmen embarking on a 4 day train ride home over Thanksgiving break from Cornell to Seattle. She's had a rough start to college. Not only is she failing all of her classes, she's alienated the friends she made at orientation, and she, a longtime lesbian, has just broken up with her straight college boyfriend. How did this happen? The only bright spot of her short college time is the hours spent at her part-time job in the greenhouse, where she finds that she has a natural inclination for taking care of the plants there.
 
 The train is full of wonderful characters that I came to adore. The one that stands out the most to Zoe is Oakley, a beautiful girl her same age who is struggling with her own identity as a queer person who left the Mormon church. But I also adored the side characters - Edward, the snack conductor on the train, young Aya, who Zoe and Oakley befriend, an older couple Clint and Virginia who are life long train riders, and many more memorable people. 
 
 It felt like a comfort read and I really appreciated all that Zoe went through and ultimately discovered about herself.