I love a book with characters who are made important simply by the fact that the book is about them. There’s really nothing special about Em and Dex. They’re young, beautiful, funny, smart, and all of those wonderful things, but they’re actually just incredibly real characters that remind you of your friend or of that friend of a friend.

I found myself highlighting constantly and while it wasn’t quite a 5-star read (I could do without the couple of Nazi references and odd racist bit), it was damn close.

I’d recommend it to pretty much anyone who loves a quiet, character-driven novel written in a unique and encompassing way. You’ll walk out a better person.

P.S. The Netflix show is damn near a shot-for-shot remake in the best way so that is also an excellent thing to consume.