2.5 rounded down. I think it might be time to admit that Robin Talley is just not really for me. The plot is fine, I guess, though really a bit obvious throughout. I appreciate the history there, which I think is particularly important to young queer folx. I didn't learn a lot of this history until I was in college and taking queer and gender studies classes. The problem I have with Talley is that her characters are flat. I cannot tell you a single thing that Sharon is interested in other than she likes punk music. In fact, closeted queer punk fan is basically Tammy's same personality but also she does art. These characters do not feel real. The minor characters seem to be no more than puppets on the page to come in and out as the author pleases. The characters, all, are so shallow that if I tripped and fell face first into them I wouldn't drown.