We Were Never Friends

Read this for my work book club.
The character development was seriously lacking with the physical descriptions of the main character, Lotte, mainly described as fat and freckled and very little else. The family were also only very lightly sketched.
This could be due to the first person POV. However this perspective struggles because although the majority of the story is described by 12-13 year old Lottie, it is also from the perspective of a mid 20's (I'm guessing as I don't think it is actually stated) adult Lottie. There was no new opinions given due to hindsight of age.
For this reason, the child Lottie's story reads like young adult fiction with the drama of high school to focus instead of the heavier themes of child abuse and the ever present “Art Monster”
In a heavy handed way, I believe that the author was trying to get across that people value art and hence artists higher than that of an abused and sick child.
This would have been more poignant if the story around it wasn't written in such a childish manner.