I tried really hard to like this book. It has great reviews and has won awards but something just wasn't there for me. I found myself well over halfway in and found I didn't care about the characters or the storyline and found it all tediously boring with huge amounts of subtle racism that was almost uncomfortable to read. The writing style in itself is easy enough to read, yet the chapters are long and just not interesting enough to keep my attention. I read a lot of books from many genres but this is the worst book I've read so far. For such a short book it dragged and I couldn't wait for it to end. There was little to no character development and I honestly didn't care what happened to any of them. It also has a weird feel for the time it's meant to be set in, as far as I'm aware it's meant to be present day but the writing is so numbingly boring and flat that it doesn't seem like real, believable characters in how they act.. I'm sad that I couldn't see into the hype that surrounds this book and for me it's very overrated and I will probably avoid any other books I see from Joan Silber. There is no enjoyment in reading this book I'm afraid. Although this book was gifted to me by the publisher through reader's first, all thoughts and opinions are my own and I would like to thank them for the copy of this novel.