This novel/memoir recounts its first-person narrator’s undergrad-aged navigation of body image issues, sexual assault, Native American racial identity, and bipolar disorder. If that all sounds like a pretty grim cocktail…well, it is. Somehow, though, the author keeps the whole boat relatively buoyant. It’s no mean feat, and owes a lot to the voice of the narrator, which is intelligent, self-deprecating, and at times fatalistic, but which, despite her experiences, seems to trend generally towards optimism. It’s an intriguing and likeable combination; I couldn’t help feeling that this was a person I’d be happy to be friends with.