I had read glowing reviews of this novel here and in the Times and decided to give it a go. It was billed as a quirky, quiet story which focused on the most difficult time of a mother/daughter relationship: adolescence. And although I did not enjoy this book at all, it did meet those above expectations. However, it is far more quiet than quirky, and throughout the novel I kept debating whether Strout was deliberately trying to prevent the reader from truly understanding and caring about these characters or if they were just simply that dull. The writing is fair, though nothing spectacular, and while the author has taken great pains to tie up all of the plot's threads by the novel's end, nothing really resolved itself to my satisfaction. The relationships described never rang true for me; I don't believe that a tale so lacking in humor and spirit can really be touted as "true to life".