I’m a sucker for coming-of-age stories and subcultures. This book is completely for me. People on alternate schedules. Vivid descriptive writing. Clearly the product of MFA writing. Goodbye Hemingway and thank god for it.

The problem is I have seen the TV show first, and the show actually takes what works in this and does it better. The best plot beats and lines of dialogue have already made an impression. The adaptation also wisely makes this less white girl and further fleshes out a lot of the minor characters. And what was changed completely is, again, better than what we find here.

The prose work is also a bit uneven here. The voice not quite solidified. In a way, this works well because our girl is coming into her own. She alternates between whiney adolescence and articulating really poignant and emotive interpretations of what is occurring. But the this works a little too well. Waiting for her to grow up or describe something interesting is about as captivating as it sounds.

But the aftertaste (hah) of this is still pleasant. It may not fully succeed at either angle, but it does do a pretty good at both and is one of the more interesting intersections. By no means is this a bad book. I think if I had read it first the show might be somewhat diminished, aside from the plot changes. That’s how good it is when it nails some lines. Some books never hit on something that good.