This was a really touching book that delves into the complexities of girlhood and a life that could have been. There are common tropes of extramarital affairs and the strains of divorced parents, but these issues are viewed from the nuanced perspective of a child stagnated in her bloom. Themes of insecurity, heartbreak, and loss of self plague even the happiest passages, and I would not recommend this as a light read. While I learned from this deeply troubling narrative, I was ultimately left unsatisfied by the seemingly rushed and plain ending of it all.