I regret taking so long to get back to this. To be fair, it presents a rough start. I wasn't sure what I was getting into. Right off, we have the voice of a teenager ... a rather /teenager/ teenager ... from the late-sixties ... a through-line into this young and naive character's heart. Stick with it. Our lead Anne, she's actually rather hilarious. I laughed out loud when I got to "Aaron Solomon was a bitchin' surfer." This is no vapid kid, but she's certainly an innocent. We accompany this rather awkward and fiery minor through a year of her life during the racial and sexual upheaval of that era in the states ... that clearly still maps onto the present day, especially when it comes to police treatment of Black folks and PoC. A lot of things go down. Almost too many things. This a journey about racism and white fragility. About war and role models murdered. About the sins of the father and patriarchical cover-ups. And so on. Anne goes through it all, from riots to a frightening abortion quest. Our heroine isn't perfect, Her thoughts and feelings are naivety are very white and very Christian. I wasn't fully sure when the author was going for realism or falling prey to the very thing this story is meant to criticize and raise awareness of. In one scene, Anne imagines sexy conversations with her "black boyfriend" that include "Yo! Sista!" Hmm. In the end, we have a case of star-crossed lovers and political activist awakenings that are racially divided. The reader is left wondering who Anne and her co-conspirators become.

It's been awhile since I've read this book so I can't recall specific things. However, I do know that it was captivating.

Enjoyed this story and have recommended to friends. I felt so emotional reading it but was unable to put it down.