Three stars is generous. I felt like I was reading someone's Facebook wall rather than a novel. The individual entries are fairly well written, but, to me, there was no cohesion, and, frankly, there was not a single character who evoked any feeling other than irritation. Perhaps this is a generation gap thing, but this was my Book of the Month club offering and I was sorely disappointed. Nevertheless, I have read far worse books, so this one deserves some credit ( )

Given the various "on the autism spectrum" books that are out there I thought it was weird that this was never addressed in this book, overall I liked her blunt tell it like is narrative I didn't like her that much or really care what happened to her, in fact a week later writing this I don't really remember what even happened at the end... ( )

Disjointed, but engaging. Strong voice. I'm not sure why, but I really liked it. Wonderful audiobook narration. ( )

Overall, I was offended and bored by this book. There was humor in the first part, but the second was tedious and not caring of the protagonist who was severely mentally ill. She was barely able to function and possessed little self-awareness. She received very little assistance, and I found the ending very sad. ( )

In the middle, it can feel rather depressing. The first-person protagonist, who I believe remains unnamed, had horrible parents, can't finish her PhD, and can't commit to the boyfriend who wants to marry her. There's a quote which I'm afraid I didn't bookmark, but which I think I got right: "The optimist believes the glass is half full. The pessimist believes it is half empty. The chemist believes it is full, half with liquid and half with gas, both of which are probably poisonous." That's the protagonist's attitude all the way through.

You think she must have redeeming qualities which are not on display, this being written in the first person depressive. Because why does Eric stay with her? She sounds relentlessly negative. But he is devoted to her; plus, she has a very warm relationship with "the best friend". This is like the main character of JOAN IS OK - she's an oddball but things don't quite go where you think they're going to. These oddballs aren't total losses. They function and have relationships. They are just human.

I want to shout out that the author has degrees in chemistry and public health as well as an MFA. Yay for scientists writing books! ( )