3.5 stars. Hull's writing is evocative of every sense, and the story of her family was beautifully told. There is no singular topic of focus in this memoir, which at times was a strength and other times, a weakness. Having little prior knowledge of Florida as a whole, this book is a testament to working-class, rural, Southern culture.

Hull's queerness is not explored in more detail until the final 30 pages of the book, but this isn't to say that this isn't a queer story. This is the story of a girl who is outside the norms of gender and sexuality from a young age, which is duly noted by the older women in her family. Hull also encounters newspapers and journalism throughout her adolescence, a detail I found especially interesting considering her future career as a journalist.

The summary and marketing of the book are quite different from the reading experience itself. While the book itself was strong in the first half, it began to skip around and jump large sections of time in the second half, leaving gaps in the story and little development. Despite this, this quick read is a fascinating account of growing up in rural Central Florida surrounded by the orange economy, and at times, one woman's queerness before she had the words to describe it.