So...I read this entire book in one sitting, but I had some very definite issues with it--the ending in particular. The choice Lucy ends up making about how to handle her situation felt really drastic, and...well, not at all mentally sound. She doesn't really face her problems, or let anyone in to help her, just hides them in the end (even from her own family)--just like her mother had been doing most of Lucy's life. And there's absolutely no discussion about the consequences of Lucy's actions. All the lies and the fear and the shame bothered me, because none of it gets resolved at all within the story; yet I feel like the author wants me to believe that at the end, all of Lucy's problems are over and everything will be fine, and I don't see how anyone could possibly believe that. Also, the comparison to What's Eating Gilbert Grape that Lucy brings up irritated me as well. In that, it seemed like the way they handled things was mainly for their mother's benefit--a way for her to keep her dignity. But Lucy seemed almost entirely focused on herself, and I couldn't really commend her for her decisions in the least. In the end the story just felt extremely shallow (despite its having such a sad and serious subject matter) and incomplete, and I was left thinking, "Really? That's it? But what about this? Or this? Or this?" Disappointing.