I also always appreciate a look at female friendship, which doesn't get enough attention in fiction when compared to romance.

Two little girls have been best friends since preschool, and are just at the interesting, volatile age during which girls give up some things they shouldn't and other things that maybe they should. There are class differences between these two, and other differences, and cracks are starting to make themselves known. Then, with their friendship unspooling, one of them winds up in peril. Watching things get resolved is fascinating and affecting. Claire Messud writes with sensitivity and compassion, getting right into her female character’s heads.

While I enjoyed the writing and the developed characters, I felt like there were a lot of areas where the plot seemed contrived. I would have liked to see a more realistic flow, something that naturally brought out the MC's strength in situations rather than it being forced.