This is not a typical novel with a clear plot. It is an episodic novel similar to many TV show structures that follows the experience of a teenage girl in an 80s or 90s boarding school. That is fine– one of my all- time favorite novels is like that (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)– but this one was just not compelling enough to hold my interest, and I found the protagonist realistic enough but increasingly unlikable. I wouldn’t mind this so much if she had developed and matured over time, but she didn’t. This made her just annoying. There was nothing elevating at the end, and in a novel like this there should be something to give the story meaning and purpose. The author did an excellent job of probing the psyche of the protagonist, reminding me uncomfortably of myself at that age, but it was just too much without deep character change and development. For these reasons I listened to four chapters (after setting the pacing on 1.25), and then skipped to the last chapter.