I am so thankful for the vignettes that take us through one year in Esparanza‘s teen life. I have marked up the book more than needed simply because there are sentences I want to come back to over and over.

Here are three short sentences that speak to our innermost fears of losing a loved one and of seeing our loved ones hurt:

“And I think if my own Papa died what I would do. I hold my Papa in my arms. I hold and hold and hold him.”

I've read two other Ian McEwan novels (Atonement and Saturday) and this book completely failed to meet my expectations. I think it is meant to be a picture of how the variety of sexual preferences are so often subjugated by the requirements of society. However, I found it tedious and feel it felt much longer than its 200 pages.