shrug. 
 it's fine. 
 is laurie halse anderson the jodi picoult of the YA set? is this a fair assessment?? jodi picoult's schtick is to just take whatever makes the headlines and structure a book around it. anderson's seems to be to take a teen problem and structure a book around it. (this is excluding her historical stuff, which i liked a lot more than any of the three contemporary problem novels i have read) and it's probably a great thing that she does this - there are so many different problems, and i'm sure it is comforting to read stuff like this if you are going through stuff like this. (don't look at me, i'm not a spoiler bomb.) 
 and yet, i still want to read more from her. is that madness? what am i finding so compelling about her books that i keep reading them? because i have only ever been gently moved by them. i read them and it's eh and i grab another book and i never think of them again. what kind of a hold does she have over me?? does she have my kitteh hostage? nah, but it's like a potato chip book. i in fact just ate about half a bag of potato chips when my intention was to eat just one little salty handful. and then i was like, well, there's not that many left in here, i wouldn't want them to get stale or anything... and then i just kept eating and idly reading reviews on here(you guys write good reviews...) and then before i knew it, they were all gone. that is how her books feel to me. i know i am not getting anything out of them, but that salt...it defeats me. 
 i think it's great that the main female character in this is a total science nerd. that's great for young girls, right?? but everything else in her life is so crappy, what if it is because of her affection for science?? food for thought. maybe science makes your.... oh. nope, not a spoiler bomb. nice try. 
 this is kind of like a pre-black swan book, where there is a highly driven female character who should really have everything go right for her, based on how much time and effort she puts into being the best. but life has its own ideas. 
 that's just science, after all...