I adored this book. This is exactly the kind of book I love to read, a very slow, drawn out character study focused on the interpersonal dynamics of a group.

I loved the characters. They're all so fully formed and dynamic. I hated them at times, but I loved reading about them. I loved Jules for all her jealousies and pettiness. I loved how real she felt, at times painfully (or annoyingly) small, but full of depth. I loved that Ash was presented as an ideal of perfection but contained multitudes and so many negatives. I loved how people behaved badly in ways that were treated as normal until all of sudden they weren't. It fascinated me.

I think some of the ending fell a little flat to me. I definitely cried for a while and certain events hit me really hard, but at the same time, books like this don't end well for me. Because the book isn't about the plot or events that are happening. They're just about the people living their lives, which means that unless it follows every character until their deaths, the book kind of just stops. I don't mind that too much, but it does often feel like a letdown after such an amazing experience.

This is definitely not the book for everyone. It's painfully slow. The characters feel so real to me, which means at times they can be incredibly annoying. Not a whole lot happens because it's mostly just about them as people. But I loved this because it was exactly the kind of book for me.