My love for magical realism continues. I will admit that I didn't enjoy this book as much as McLemore's The Weight of Feathers, but it was still a beautiful story. Taking inspiration from their own life, McLemore creates heartbreaking characters facing personal struggles that are both internal and external in nature. The language is melodic and wonderful, describing things with a fantastic clarity while still leaving some magical edges and whimsy. The magical element of the novel is creative and quirky and initially didn't quite meet the mark for me, but it developed through the story quite well and I really came to embrace it in the end. Speaking of endings, this one is great. It is full of emotional content that hit me hard and really drove home the underlying topics of equality. It wasn't a perfect read, but it was a darned good one.