4 stars for the obvious quality. This is a powerful, moving book, a mix of memoir and fiction of the what-should-have-been type. But for all its quality, it was still distasteful to me--too graphic, too ... well, graphic about sums it up. 
 This may end up being our town-wide read book. I hope not, just because I don't think I can stomach it a second time. On the other hand, it's about the best of the nominees so far. (I do hope we can toss this batch and start over.)