Well, let’s start with the good. This was a beautifully written book. Ivey’s command of language is incredible and her descriptions of the Alaskan frontier are absolutely breathtaking. She has a knack for exposition that doesn’t leave you wanting, pulling you into the scene completely. There were a few lines I had to reread because they really resonated. Always a delight to read a genuinely incredible writer’s work. It’s pretty but not conceited, which I find a hard thing to balance.

The story is what killed it for me. And maybe I’m being harsh with a 3.5 because I enjoyed the story up until the last quarter but boy that last quarter sure did kill it. It wasn’t the ambiguous ending (I actually loved that we never learned if Faina was magical or not) but the entire thesis of the book.

The loss of a child is devastating and the loss of childhood is equally (?) as devastating, or difficult in other ways, but still something to be sad about. It was insanely frustrating to have Mabel and Jack fretting about Faina hanging out with Garrett, but then they…..don’t do anything about it? They don’t tell this innocent, naive, uneducated child about sex and the side effects? And then Mabel acts all broken up that Faina is pregnant and is no longer ~her child~ like??? you chose to do that??? hello??? And that’s beside the fact that just because Faina is having a baby doesn’t mean she is a Changed Woman. It’s not that deep, Mabel.

I knew going into this that the story wasn’t for me and I came out disappointed anyway. Oh well.