2/23: goodness this was bleak. I need to think about it more before I finalize my review and rating.

later that day....lol

I settling on 4 stars for this. Overall, this is a hard hitting, despairing, bleak, heart breaking story. I think it could have been 5 stars if she had peeled back a bit on the number of social issues tackled in this story. There was so much trauma, it was almost too much. It ended on a hopeful note, but overall I left this book feeling bruised and beat up. I don't know if that was the intent? I'm ultimately still pretty torn about how I feel about this book. I loved it and I hated it.