I don’t know what’s more tragic, the plot of this book or the fact that every single political critique applies to the modern U.S.

Tl;dr: I support women’s rights AND women’s wrongs!!!

SO there are a lot of haters out there in the forum and while I respect yall’s opinions I just do not think you get my girl Rachel at all but i’ll tell you what SHE gets ME.

This book shines with its characters. I felt like I knew every member of that family from their first descriptions, and yet was still enthralled and surprised as deeper levels of characterization were revealed. Every single detail of every single character felt so intentional and important to the story, even those we only get for a scene or two.

This book also shines with its subtlety. There are times when it is not subtle. The ending in particular made the odd choice to literally narrate the metaphors and motifs from throughout the story. BUT when Harrison decides to show and not tell the reader what she wants us to see, it is an absolute masterpiece. And luckily, those times far outweighed the former for me.

And last but certainly not least I’ve gotta give it up for the girls. I fucking love women, and reading/watching horror stories about women written by men (which is unfortunately most of what I’ve seen) is a particular pet peeve of mine. Even when its done well, its only done tolerably well and honestly I can smell a male-written fmc a mile away. So it was such a fucking breath of fresh air to get this book, and get our multi-dimensional, heart breaking, hilarious, fucked up cast of women. I understood each and every one of them. I love how they got nuances and explanations without getting excuses or undue forgiveness. I love that they were all so real. (To be fair, so were the male characters, because, as mentioned above, the characterization in this book was top notch. But I am a misandrist and don’t care about them as much SUE ME!!) Harrison’s dedication to exploring her female characters’ relationships with each other, with the men around them, and with their own femininity was incredible.

This book was truly a joy to have in class. I am making my mom read it and hoping it doesn’t traumatize her. I would make my dad read it but he doesn’t care about my interests or opinions and wouldn’t get it anyway so maybe that’s got something to do with why this one hit so hard!!! HAHAHA like I said Rachel gets me!!!