I think the story is incredibly important and wonderfully diverse - I mean, it's set in the Texas oil fields in the 1930s and it's the story of a Latina girl and an African American boy falling in love - it's just so dark and bleak and miserable to read that I can't really give it anything more than that.

I honestly would even hesitate to call this a young adult book. Because even though that's clearly the intended audience and that's the age of the narrators, it deals with so many incredibly serious issues and there is so much of those issues on the page that I genuinely doubt I'd ever recommend this book to a teenager.

I mean, just knowing that this is about an interracial relationship in 1930s Texas should be enough to tell you that this book isn't going to be the happiest of stories (don't get me wrong - I LOVED the relationship between Naomi and Wash. But Texas. 1930s. Interracial relationship. You know?). But when you add in the fact that this is about a seventeen year old girl whose stepfather considers her his property and that he's entitled to do whatever he likes to his property, things become even more bleak.

I don't think we'll ever have too many books about systemic racism. What better way to acknowledge our current prejudices than to explore those in the past. The layers of prejudice in this book are both fascinating and disgusting. It's not a comfortable read, given that it features not only racism but abuse and murder. I wouldn't even say it's a must-read. Some parts are slow, almost dull. Still I could see myself recommending this one to a mature reader.