To hear many more of my thoughts about this book, check out this podcast with my best friend!

In a word: stunning.

The spread of star ratings you'll find for this book absolutely points to how not-for-everyone this book is. It's hard for me to accept, though, because I feel like I found an absolute treasure. It was thoughtful and beautiful and meaningful and emotional. I ended up having to read this a lot slower than I imagined because every time I opened the book, I felt unmoored.

The mix of fabulism with the realism of what the characters face was brilliant. There may be no accounting for the gaps in the town where people lose themselves, or the death-like figure who kidnaps Roza or the Zeus-like figure who watches it all happen, but there is accounting for small-town life and the price of beauty and the expectations women face based on said beauty. There is the reality of seeing people or missing them, and loving those we see, and thinking we love those we aren't seeing. There is leaving and staying and thinking we have no choice in either matter.

Every character struck a cord with me. I'll be thinking about this for a long time to come and I can't wait to talk about this book and all of its meaning with people.

I loved it so much.