When I first picked up this book, I wasn't so impressed. It was a gift, and the language seemed so simple, perhaps even badly written. I'd seen the movie 3 times. Did I really need to read the book?

Yes! It quickly grew on me. The (beautiful, amazing) movie only captured some surface level of the book. The language is simple, and that's why it's powerful. It's a tremendously moving, emotional, interior book of a young woman coming of age, grappling with who she is and where she comes from, and who she wants to be. It was a beautiful book I couldn't put down.