Maaaaan, guys. That was 
 fucked? 
 This is a book about a sad, strange, loathsome asshole who makes terrible decisions, and it's all so bloody entertaining. I'm not surprised that this book got middling reviews; it's a Marmite thing, probably a very, very acquired taste that not everyone will enjoy. But I loved it. 
 I would have given it five stars, but there was an unnerving air of internalized misogyny that really bothered me, and was completely unnecessary. River is an asshole, but she didn't need to be problematic. There was also some really thinly veiled racism, and I am never, ever here for that garbage, so keep it 2763473537 feet away from me. 
 In terms of plot, this book is gripping. In terms of writing, it's stellar. The writing was, for me at least, exquisite: it beautifully captures the eternal cringe of emo teen philosophy, dragging me right through a time warp and back to my high school goth days. "We're all gonna die". Yes we are, and teens think they're the only ones who realize this. This book knows that, and it's willing to play with it. 
 At the same time, it feels appropriately teen. It's not shying from stuff that teens do, like swear and drink and take recreational drugs and have sex. It's also refreshingly frank, and takes the monumental risk of a protagonist who is a garbage human being: River is dreadful, self-obsessed and pedantic and selfish and cruel. She is a hypocrite, a bully who frowns on bullies, but she is also a girl with nobody to turn to, a frightened cornered animal lashing out at any outstretched hand. She takes her jealousy and twists it into hatred and obsession; she sees people with things that she doesn't have, and she lusts for them. She idealizes an unobtainable life, and the Graces represent everything that she wants to be. She wants to be powerful, because she is powerless. She wants to be cool, and effortless, and so she very effortfully creates a character, like an actor reading from a script. 
 I love the way River's character has been crafted. She is a girl filled with rage and loneliness, crippled by low self-esteem. And her inner hatred turns to outer hatred. She is desperate to be loved, and so she creates a disguise, and so the Graces love her not for who she is, but for the part she is playing. It is agonizing and thrilling to watch. 
 This book is just seeping with atmosphere, tense and tight but not sparse. It's paced brilliantly, and I just could not put it down. It was like a slow fall off a cliff, something everyone knows is going to end brutally, but that's impossible to look away from. 
 I wish the ending had been fleshed out a little further. I liked the mystery of it, but it didn't feel quite full enough. It was slightly abrupt, but during that last scene on the beach, I was sitting up on the edge of my bed, literally talking to the book. It enraged me, like the whole book enraged me, but in the best way. 
 The Graces is a story about obsession, loneliness, desperation, and the agony of navigating the dreaded mid-teens. It's about low self-esteem, and how it can literally rip away personhood. It's about envy, and jealousy, and bitterness, and how a villain is really made. Because River is our protagonist, but she is not our good guy. She is the villain of this story, and it's excellent.