Every Body Has a Story | 
so-soThe book is a little bit uneven but I still felt it deeply. The ebbing and flowing tensions among the characters are believable and even relatable. The ending [spoiler alert] is hopeful but not cliché. Lena in particular feels real. One thing that bothered me is, for a book that takes place in the Bronx, there was not even a single mention of race or racial dynamics; I was left to assume the characters were white since the author is. A bit blind.