The main character's struggle with the death of her older sister is very well written. The enormity of her loss -- for one thing the bond siblings have from the shared-experience of growing up -- is nuanced and terribly sad. 
 However, the rest of the characters feel like just that -- characters. From the forced quirkiness of the girl's odd-ball family, to the beatific, half-Parisian musical genius she has a crush on (they play beautiful music together, literally) and her goth-dressing, Sartre-reading, feminist best friend, the characters never seem real. Nelson jam-packs the story with so many weird little details, trying to build a rich backstory for the girl's family, that it often feels over-stuffed and contrived.