This is a beautiful novel that seems as much a collection of short stories as anything else (of course, that is what Alice Munro is known for). But the vignettes that show Del growing from a child to a young woman perfectly frame what it is to be a girl and young woman, from innocent giggles over crushes and childish gossip, to a young woman learning to understand her sexuality in the way that young teenaged girls only know how do do: with a friend and equally balanced between scandal, disgust, excitement, and laughter. Her assorted relationships that come and go, with aunts, mothers, boarders, friends, and boyfriends (and flings) are so realistic but also flawed: after all, Del is a young woman forming her own opinions of people, and we know young people can be mean. In that way, too, the book forces reflection of our own youth and the follys we played into.

This book was a wonderful read, one that I could pick up and put down, sometimes one I couldn't put down (or couldn't pick up), that made me laugh at myself as much as Del. I'd recommend it to anybody.