Hyacinth girls

This book was a tough read for me. The writing was clean and lovely, and the characters were written with complexity and an unflinching eye. Many of the reviews and blurbs I've read about this book seem to take this book at its most simple and superficial: as a story about bullying, as a story of caution to anyone who has children. What I found most compelling about this novel was its exploration of the ways each one of us can be cruel to each other, regardless of age. The adult narrator of the story was the most unreliable character, and the narrative she created to explain what was happening to Callie was so frustratingly myopic and willfully naive, that I found myself saying aloud, “UGH. Are you serious?!” It was also believable and so very real, so hats off to Lauren Frankel for that. What I also found more striking than Callie's bullying experiences (as intense as they were), was the way that the adults in the story bullied and ostracized children who were already experiencing cruelty and isolation. It was unsettling, uncomfortable, infuriating, and all too real, I'm sure.

My main gripe with the book comes toward the end, when one of the narrators reflects on the events of the entire book and sums them up as if to say, “In case you didn't get it before, these are the themes of this book and what I'm trying to say is that we bully each other all the time.” I could have done without that.

Other than that, this novel was one that will stick with me for awhile.