I have to say that there really wasn’t much I liked about this book at all. Young adult, coming of age novels are a favorite genre of mine but I just could not get into this book. I mainly couldn’t stand Verdita. My dislike of her was so profound that by the end of the book there was no reconciling the change in her. It was totally unbelievable to me.I could not get what the point of the book was. It is written in the first person, from Verdita’s point of view. I understand that she is an 11 year old girl and that, often, 11 year old girls do not make a whole lot of sense. The only things in the book were reactions to random events. There was no cohesiveness in the story.
There was some very lovely descriptive writing in the book that I enjoyed. I also enjoyed the cultural traditions and references that were part of the book. This is what I truly enjoyed about the book. I really wish there had been more references to island culture. Unfortunately, I would not recommend it as a must read.
