In our world, this story will hit home to so many people. I have been wanting to diversify my reading more and I am so glad I have been trying to make that a priority because this is the kind of story that I want to learn about. While this story may not have worked for me I still see the importance of this story and want more people to read.
So because this was not my favorite story I wanted to share the things that I think this book did well and the things that I think could have been better. 
The thing that I enjoyed most about this book was the family dynamics of Ander's family, the diverse representation, and the difficult topics that were discussed. 
One of the things that didn't work for me are Ander as a character. Ander annoyed me from the beginning maybe because they seemed so selfish from the very beginning is what made me not connect with the character. For me, all of Ander's decisions big and small were made for what they wanted in that moment. I was glad that at one of the main conflicts, this selfishness was addressed and I do understand that they were only 19, but for someone who has grown up in a family like Ander's, it seemed off to me that they would be so selfish. The other big issue that I had was that the pacing felt very disjointed. The first 3/4 of the book was so slow and because I wasn't enjoying Ander as a character it made that portion drag then the last 1/4 of the book felt rushed and while I understood that the events that were occurring would have been rushed it felt like the most character development that was happening was also rushed and didn't feel authentic in my opinion.