I’m pretty sure I only picked up this book because it fulfills “a book with a color in the title,” but am I ever glad I did pick it up.

Superficially, it has all my favorite tropes and themes — a bookstore, the ocean, friends-turned-maybe-lovers, breakups and makeups, some philosophy and quotable moments but not too many, a balance of humor and serious moments — and above all it’s about people. The writing is straightforward and honest, cutting through the bullshit to the complexity that is human life and loss and transmigration; it’s not beautiful and in this case it works.

For some people I’m sure this book will seem melodramatic, even shallow in its focus on imperfect relationships and coping mechanisms. But to me it has that je ne sais quoi of a great literary love.