I got this book because my kid was reading it for a class this summer and while it took me quite a while to get through it, I really enjoyed it. It reads mostly like a text book, but with some personal family history by the author included which gave it an emotional draw not usually found in a text book. Some of the material here I was familiar with, at least on the surface, but other information was completely new to me and fascinating.  In particular, the Spanish colonial influence was not something I had learned much about.  I don't think I had even realized how much the American history classes I have taken and the independent reading I have done over the years had focused on British colonialism to the exclusion of that.  

Highly, highly recommend.

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Following the death of a childhood friend earlier this month, my law school buddy Raul suggested I read this book about loss and grief.  I was not expecting what I got.  This is a wonderfully constructed novel. The story is couched in language that is both simple and elegant.  This book also had a rare quality: the ability to draw me in so that I was thinking about the book when I wasn't reading it, but without feeling like I couldn't put it down or needed to get back to it right away.  This is in part, I think, because the plot was not complex. I was reading for the character development and to hear her thoughts on grief and friendship as they unfolded. It is rare that I really love a book like this.  It wasn't overwritten or pretentious.  I didn't feel like she was trying to write "the great American novel."  It was just a lovely, lovely read about a topic I was already thinking about.  

​Highly, highly recomment.