I'm mildly surprised to find myself giving this book four stars, but what can I say? I ended up really liking a lot of things about the story and the author in general. It would be easy enough to go through and pick out all the flaws in the story, but that's already been done. Astrid's story is engaging, and there are many colorful characters in the book who are quite well-developed considering their short tenure in Astrid's life. The author skillfully uses small details about each character to make them pop out and seem real. A lot of the author's insights about people and life rang true for me. She is clearly a long-time observer of the human condition. People and relationships are complicated and messy, and impossible to define as always being a certain way all the time.The basic story is about a young girl named Astrid who lives with her mother Ingrid, a narcissistic aesthete. When Astrid is twelve, Ingrid murders a man who dumped her, and is sent to prison. Astrid then moves through a series of foster homes. Over the next six years she becomes jaded as she learns how to use people to get what she wants/needs. She also learns not to count on anyone to be there for her for any length of time, and therefore she tries not to get too attached to people.
