I had no idea what this was about when I started it. What I found was a beautifully written story about a woman in her 40s trying to start a new path in her life. O Beautiful masterfully explores issues of race, environmentalism, family, class, beauty, what it means to be American, and more, while also having an engaging plot. 

My one issue was that this book didn't seem totally finished. Maybe that was the point - that things aren't always resolved in our lives. However, I wanted to know several things, including

how her article turned out, what ended up happening to her professor/ex after the allegations were made, did anything get resolved with her sister, etc.

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