This book is definitely one that pokes at your soft spots, so if you are feeling like your soft spots are particularly exposed regarding family relations(particularly those with your mother), body image, queerness, and the journey of figuring yourself both in a sexuality and gender way, you might want to shelve this book for another day. 
I think the major unique strength of this book was sometimes its weakness for me. I loved the concept of the author recounting their life via the stories of sea creatures. I think there could've been better balance and transition from sea creature stories to personal stories. I listened to this as an audiobook, so the subject changes sometimes felt jumpy and disjointed to me, but that could be an artifact of me listening to the book instead of reading it.