Olivia Birdsall

Susan says: Mia is the middle child in a family that is breaking apart. Her parents have split up, which only serves to emphasize how her parents have both tuned out of her life lately. Her brother Allen is drinking all the time, but Mia doesn't want to deal with that, or anything, really. She feels like a ghost - just getting through every day without engaging with anyone other than her boyfriend Julian. This book ends at sort of a funny place - the family has just gone into family therapy show more to help address some of the family problems, but the parents end up spending all the time in there together, which is sort of typical of their self-absorption. A lot of the brother's drinking is solitary, so Mia doesn't see, or tries not to see, what's happening. There is no sex in this book, and in fact Mia worries that Julian doesn't even want to touch her. Maybe he's just going really slow, but he's a senior, and that isn't really resolved either - the whole book feels like it has that veil over it, which maybe is the point. It was okay, but not really gripping. show less