• How family, bio and chosen, are depicted as a community truly grounded in & connected to one another, even when dynamics become messy and complex. You can really feel the depth of love Lena feels for her family & friends, and how they feel that for her too.
• How history was woven in to a fictional storyline, teaching real, important, and often intentionally left out aspects of Portland’s history. 
• How it depicted being a fat person whose distres is not about fatness, but about fatphobia and the very real harm it causes. <spoiler>It was so raw to witness Lena rethinking her own relationship with her body as she came to realize how her actions - taking “beauty” pills, restricting food intake - were impacting Aaliyah’s own self perception, despite her best efforts to instill self love & positivity through her words. 
• The role the therapist played in supporting both Lena & Aaliyah in navigating their feelings individually, while also helping them come back together after Aaliyah’s accidental overdose. </spoiler>

Wonderful book that needs to add caution warnings -- the racism and weight prejudice was expected, a drug overdose was not. Also parental death (not of a lead character).

This is such a beautifully written book about so many things -- body image, love from family, friends and relationships, racism - both overt & implicit, and historical memory -- that it really can't be categorized.

This contemporary novel teaches about the history of the black experience in Portland, and the state of Oregon - something I've never seen addressed before.

It's not a novel-in-verse, but is almost written in the same type of format.

Regardless, it's an extremely thought provoking book, and is definitely something that would be excellent for a book club book.

Highly recommended