Simple, sparse language. The parents are real, fallible and completely loveable. 
 (view spoiler)[I have a hard time understanding people who so completely lie to themselves that they're surprised when they discover who they are. I cannot compartmentalize that way and, therefore, I have a hard time relating to it. In the end, I think I fell in love with Dante and Ari as friends, and I had a hard time giving that up. (hide spoiler)] 
 Favorite Quotes 
 As far as I was concerned, the sun could have melted the blue right off the sky. Then the sky could be as miserable as I was. 
 Words were different when they lived inside of you. 
 I got to thinking that one of my jobs in the world was to laugh at Dante's jokes. 
 No wonder I stopped keeping a journal. It was like keeping a record of my own stupidity. 
 I wondered about the science of storms and how sometimes it seemed that a storm wanted to break the world and how the world refused to break. 
 But love was always something heavy for me. Something I had to carry. 
 Ophelia always said Franny was the Fourth of July.