Insightful and largely entertaining, but sullied by language and other unfortunate themes.
Plot
When Lee Fiora enters Ault High School, a boarding school in Massachusetts, as a freshman, she quickly encounters new struggles: blending in, making friends, facing crushes. Over the next four years, she finds her own way to face all these things, and much, much more.
Morality
Lee and her classmates struggle to fit in, largely doing what they feel to be right (as opposed to what is actually right.)
Later on in the book, one character is discovered to be a lesbian. This is portrayed as acceptable.
Spiritual Content
The students attend chapel in the mornings.
Lee writes an essay entitled, "Prayer Is Not A Good Idea In Public Schools."
Violence
None.
Drug and Alcohol Content
Someone is said to smoke; someone else is said to be a druggie. When Lee almost faints, a man asks what she's "on."
Sexual Content
Lots.
Multiple sexual comments/discussions occur throughout the book, in the form of Lee's thoughts or her conversations with friends.
When Lee sees a pamphlet in the infirmary entitled, "Am I Gay?" she briefly wonders what it would be like to kiss another woman or touch her breast. Later, she walks in on two girls who are in bed together.
Crude or Profane Language or Content
Multiple uses of d--m, a--, b--ch, s--t, p--s, and f--k. God's name is misused several times.
Conclusion
Although full of insight into the insecurities and complexities of the mind of a thoughtful, observant young woman, the plot is rife with profanity, muddled morality, and sexual themes - not a good book for the discerning reader.
