The Little Friend

I loved the richness of this story, from our main characters unique personality and adventures, to the long family saga we become familiar with. The POV of a young person accentuates every part of this book, kids are at the mercy of adults, there is a powerlessness and a refuge found in imagination and invention and our main character embodies this. I don't remember reading a book that so carefully and exhaustively renders the inner workings of a kids mind. We see her in full dimensions, we know what drives her, her curiosity for the wide world, we see her try to understand things that kids can't really understand, it's stunning character work. Tartt also weaves into this the relations between white society and black housekeepers in Mississippi, it was powerful and sad esp through the eyes of a kid.