In my humble opinion, Alice Hoffman has either degenerated or I have outgrown her. This book read like a Danielle Steels novel---all incredible extremes.

This girl is the most beautiful girl in the world; men commit suicide over her when she is a teen. Everyone adores her, yet she cares for no one except her little sister. She becomes more and more withdrawn, sitting in a tree outside her window; running off in the night barefooted to get involved in drugs and drinking and sex, because she suffered a trauma and could tell no one. She continues on this self-destructive path throughout most of the book and I would have cared if I could have suspended disbelief for just a minute.

One of her sisters is the smartest girl in the world, winning all the academic achievements possible. The other sister is the kind-hearted one. In the first chapter, at the age of 11, she impulsively attempts to rescue a horse from its life of dreary work in Central Park, racing through the park with the police chasing, and holding on to the reins, though she breaks both arms, and the police shoot the horse to stop him.

Who are these people and what strange universe do they inhabit? Everyone in this novel behaves like a creature from a fairy tale and I am not sure if this is a new style of writing or if it's just as ridiculous as it appears on its face.