A character-driven and introspective novel mostly about the internal lives of three teenaged siblings and the changes of thought and feeling they undergo after discovering an injured young man. Though the synopsis makes this sound somewhat like a mystery--and I suspect that's why my work book club voted for it--it's really a triple Bildungsroman about kids grappling with sexual awakenings, the concept of belonging, and the problem of evil.

I'm not going to say that it's an objectively bad book, because it certainly isn't. But I will say that it isn't a book that I enjoyed. It made me anxious and sad in ways that didn't feel rewarding or productive, and it took me much longer to finish than it should have because I dreaded picking it up.

I'm interested in hearing what my book club thinks about it. But mostly I'm relieved to go back to the streak of uplifting and/or cathartic reading I've been doing lately.

One point in this book's favor: Lily the dog is a delight, and nothing bad happens to her.