First love, last love, families, art, AIDS - they are all here but this book is so much more than the sum of its parts. Brunt draws all the threads of her story together withamazing skill. Moving, believeable, sweet-spirited even when her characters are doing bad things. A very good boo.

This book touched me. Maybe it's because I was a teen in the 80's and the Aids topic hit home. But, it made me experience so many emotions on so many different levels that I would recommend it to anyone who just needs to read a very well written book.

I was sad to see my bookmark creeping closer and closer to the end of the story. Beautifully written, this is a story of love, grief, sisterhood, and finding yourself. Would be a great book club read.

This is one of the best books I have read this year. Set in the 80's Brunt captures the aids paranoia perfectly. The relationships are all real and touching. Sad, wise, funny and revealing-this is a book to savor and enjoy.

This is a story about relationships and how vulnerable we are to the people we love. I'm surprised it was not marketed to a Young Adult audience...the protagonist is a teen, dealing with teen emotions. Still very readable on an adult level.

I think the author captures what it's like to be a young teenager, including the pulls from different factions to be or act a certain way or believe certain things. The different pieces fit together intricately and, at times, unexpectedly. I'm not sure whether it's plausible, or whether a book even needs to be plausible. It's a long book, and half-way through I was wondering how the author could sustain my interest for so long, but it actually began to move faster towards the end. I found it moving and interesting, and I connected with the uncertainties and risk-taking and fears of the main character.

A thoroughly mediocre coming of age story. Bland prose. Improbably plotting. Another commenter said something about it not passing the "plausibility test". That's putting it lightly. Very little in this novel rings true. From the art world of the 80's to the relationships presented. As far as I was concerned, the character Toby, dying of AIDS, was nothing more than a prop for the main character's moral improvement. I found her repellent...and not in an interesting way.

Absolutely captivating story - I normally don't read stories about families and dysfunction, but the bittersweet nature of this story kept me captivated until the end!

Carol Rifka Brunt has crafted a beautifully, sad, coming-of-age tale about fourteen-year-old June Elbus, her older sister Greta, and her Uncle Finn. Set in the early 1980's, June's world is rocked when her beloved Uncle dies of complications from AIDS. Recent changes in her relationship with Greta have made June believe that Finn was truly the only person to understand her. Enter the mysterious Toby, much maligned by the rest of her family, June finds in Toby a potential kindred spirit and someone from whom she can at the very least, learn more about Finn's life. Brunt masterfully negotiates the twists and turns of adolescence, while adding an additional layer of adult, emotional trauma in a story that is both powerful and incredibly moving. It also demonstrates just how far we've come as a society since the early 80's, with regard to AIDS. Yet at the same time, some of the themes Brunt explores would still be scandalous in today's world, which is a shame. This is a terrific debut novel, and I highly recommend it.

One of the best books I read this year. Perfectly captures the insecurities of a 14-year-old girl who has lost her uncle--the one person who "gets" her--to AIDS in the 1980s. With the author's strong characterizations, the book reminds me of the work of Gail Godwin, in particular The Finishing School. LauraADPPL/WeAreSpartacus.